Dad praises judge as son’s knife attacker is jailed for 8 years
A FATHER has praised a judge after he jailed the man who knifed his son for eight years.
Joshua Tindal, was stabbed eight times by Garyn Allen in Royton Park, Oldham.
The victim’s father believes his son’s life was saved thanks to the quick action of an off-duty nurse who ran to the scene.
Joshua 19, at the time, suffered a collapsed lung in the attack.
His father, Mark, welcomed the sentence handed out by Judge Mark Savill at Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court.
“It’s not rocket science, if you carry a knife, you are giving yourself the option to use it. If eight years does not send out a deterrent, I don’t know what does,” said Mark. He added: “I am pleased with the sentence and in my opinion Allen is lucky he was not facing an attempted murder charge.
“The incident was caught on CCTV and lasted about 30 seconds. Josh thought it was a fist fight, but only later realised he had been stabbed and collapsed.
“It was a pre-arranged fight. Allen was a stupid boy to carry a knife - but he could have killed my son. My son must learn from this too. He knows he should defend himself, but look what happened.
“Friends who were with Josh ran after Allen who went to a house where he thought a friend was after the stabbing. There was a nurse at the property. Josh’s friends told her Allen had stabbed him. She grabbed a bag and ran to where Josh was.
“His friends, with the best of intentions were planning to drive him to Oldham hospital. But as soon as the nurse examined she could tell he had a collapsed lung and insisted that he should not be moved - that could well have saved his life.”
Josh had gone to the park in the early evening of February 18 this year to meet Allen. Both Josh and Allen had a phone conversation the day before when they had arranged to meet to resolve a dispute over a small debt his friend had with Allen.
Josh turned up with a few friends and fought with Allen, who then ran off.
Moments later Josh felt dizzy and realised he had been knifed.
Nineteen-year-old Allen pleaded guilty to unlawful wounding at a pre-trial hearing in March. But he went to trial on charges of wounding with intent and possession of an offensive weapon. He was found guilty of both charges by a jury.