Prisoner on early release stabbed man with screwdriver

A Fife man stabbed another twice in the back with a screwdriver after being given early release from prison just three days before.

Rhys Marshall also left a woman permanently scarred during the same incident in Methil by throwing a bottle at the window she was standing at, showering her with glass. The bottle shattered the window and as the bleeding woman screamed, Marshall launched a stabbing attack on a man who challenged him.

Marshall, 24, a prisoner at Edinburgh, appeared from custody at Dunfermline Sheriff Court.

Depute fiscal Azrah Yousaf said at 7.30pm on April 14 a birthday party was taking place in Stewart Court.

Marshall approached carrying a bottle of vodka and a bottle of Buckfast and when he tried to go into the party he was asked to leave.

Witnesses described him as being “drunk and obnoxious”.

He was removed from the door area and a woman was looking out of the window to see what was happening when Marshall threw a bottle. The window smashed and she was showered with glass. Her injuries included cuts to her chin which needed stitched and will leave permanent scars.

She started screaming and two people went outside to confront Marshall who, stabbed one of them twice in the back. The victim was also taken to the Victoria Hospital with wounds to his back but there was no internal damage.

Defence solicitor Martin McGuire said his client wanted to apologise to the victims. He said Marshall had been visiting a friend in a flat above where the party was being held.

Sheriff Charles MacNair said it was “only by the greatest of good fortune” that the stabbing “did not cause very, very serious injury or death”. He sent Marshall back to jail to serve six months of his last sentence and he was given another 19 months for the latest offending.

Mar shall admitted culpably and recklessly throwing a bottle at a window, causing them to smash and showering a woman with glass, to her injury and permanent disfigurement. He also admitted assaulted a man by repeatedly striking him with a screwdriver, to his injury.