When Stanley blade broke, teen adjusted it and slashed boy again
Teen scarred for life in attack over phone
A 19-YEAR- OLD Mallow youth continued to attack a teenager with a knife even after part of the blade broke off, and he proceeded to slash his victim across the face, leaving him with a permanent scar, a court has heard.
Chindo Emeaugbor, who already had nine previous convictions, was jailed for two-and-ahalf years with the final six months suspended after he pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to the 17-year-old at Applegreen, Spa Square, Mallow on November 3, 2019.
Det Garda Aidan Long told Cork Circuit Criminal Court he had viewed CCTV footage of the incident. He said that Emeaugbor could be seen stabbing the injured party, and when part of the blade of the Stanley knife broke off when stabbing the youth in the back, he extended the blade again and slashed him across the face with it.
He also continued attacking the youth, slashing his clothing and slicing open his shoes in what was a frenzied and sustained assault.
He said the attack happened after Emeaugbor had demanded the youth’s mobile phone.
A 19-YEAR- OLD Mallow youth continued to attack a teenager with a knife even after part of the blade broke off, and he proceeded to slash his victim across the face, leaving him with a permanent scar, a court has heard.
Chindo Emeaugbor was jailed for two years after he pleaded guilty at Cork Circuit Criminal Court last week to assault causing harm to the 17-yearold at Applegreen, Spa Square, Mallow on November 3, 2019.
Det Garda Aidan Long of Mallow Garda Station told the court that he was on duty on the night in question when the teenager came into Mallow Garda Station with his mother and sister to report the attack.
He was bleeding heavily from a laceration from just below his left ear down to his chin, and his clothing had been cut and his shoe sliced in the attack. He was highly distraught and traumatised, said Det Garda Long.
Gardai arranged for the youth to get medical treatment which involved the facial wound being glued, and he later identified the culprit as a black male and said the attack happened near the Applegreen filling station in Mallow.
Det Garda Long said that gardai harvested CCTV footage from the area and identified Emeaugbor and two others on security footage approaching the injured party, before Emeaugbor attacked him with a Stanley knife.
He said that Emeaugbor could be seen stabbing the injured party, and when part of the blade of the Stanley knife broke off when stabbing the youth in the back, he extended the blade again and slashed him across the face with it.
He also continued attacking the youth, slashing his clothing and slicing open his shoes in what was a frenzied and sustained assault which was fully captured on CCTV, said Det Garda Long.
He said that the attack happened after Emeaugbor had demanded that the youth hand over his mobile phone to him, and when the youth refused, Emeaugbor produced the Stanley knife and began attacking him.
Det Garda Long said that after gardai identified Emeaugbor from the CCTV footage, they went to arrest him at his home at Summerhill in Mallow only to discover from his mother that he had gone to the UK.
Gardai established that he had booked a flight to Newcastle within two hours of the assault on the teenager, but they learned he was returning to Ireland on January 3, 2020, and arrested him at Dublin Airport.
He was conveyed to Mallow Garda Station, where he was interviewed at length and made full admissions but claimed the attack resulted from the fact that the youth owed him money after he had paid off a debt on the youth’s behalf.
Det Garda Long said that Embeaugbor had a total of nine previous convictions including three for possession of drugs and one for public order, as well as some road-traffic matters, and confirmed he had never been in custody before.
He said after Embeaugbor was charged at Mallow Garda Station with the assault, he caused criminal damage to his cell by stuffing his blanket down the toilet and urinating and defecating on top of it so it spilled out into the cell.
He said the injured party had been left with a permanent scar as a result of the attack and was endeavouring to conceal it by growing a beard, but he remained deeply shaken by the frenzied attack.
Defence barrister Donal O’Sullivan BL pleaded for leniency, saying that his client was abusing cannabis and cocaine at the time of the incident and he put to Det Garda Long that he did express remorse for his actions during interview.
Det Garda Long said Embeaugbor showed no remorse initially when he was being interviewed and became so aggressive at one point during the interview that he had to be placed back in a detention cell.
However he agreed with Mr O’Sullivan that he did express remorse in the very last line of his memo of interview when he said that he learned that the victim was only 17 and did not deserve to be attacked.
Mr O’Sullivan suggested that his client lacked maturity. “He’s a native of Mallow, his family live there and it’s his home – he’s a young fellow with a serious lack of cop-on and in dire need of some maturity,” he said.
Judge Sean Ó Donnabhain said Embeaugbor had committed “a very nasty assault” and the fact that he had used a knife and used it repeatedly to attack his victim were aggravating factors in the case.
“This was a vicious frenetic attack,” said Judge Ó Donnabhain, adding that he was still at a loss to understand what prompted Embeaugbor to attack his victim so violently, but he acknowledged his plea was a mitigating factor.
He said in all the circumstances he believed the appropriate sentence was one of two and half years but he suspended the final six months and backdated the two-year term to January 5, when Embeaugbor first went into custody.