SHERIFF SPARES KNIFE THUG PRISON
Man who left schoolboy fighting for life gets to enjoy festive season
A GREENOCK knife thug who left a schoolboy fighting for life has been spared jail and allowed to enjoy the festive season with his family — as long as he’s home by 9pm each night.
Ryan Youden was handed an electronic tagging curfew and unpaid work by Sheriff Michael Higgins as a result of senselessly stabbing a now deeply traumatised teenage victim to within a fraction of his heart.
The sheriff declared that he had ‘considered carefully’ the content of a victim impact statement and the feelings of the attacked youngster and his family, before giving Youden a community-based sentence.
His decision came after a court hearing was told of 18-year-old Youden’s ‘difficulties and vulnerabilities’ — highlighted in assessment reports prepared by a psychiatrist and a psychologist.
The sheriff acknowledged that Youden — who was aged 16 at the time of the attack — had caused ‘severe physical injury’ and that his actions had resulted in a ‘deeply traumatising experience’ for the victim, who was just 15.
Sheriff Higgins added that he had to also give consideration to High Court guidelines for the sentencing of young people and that he could ‘only impose custody if the court was satisfied that no other sentence was appropriate’.
The guideline document, whilst recognising immaturity in young people and a ‘greater capacity for change and rehabilitation’, also states: ‘The court’s consideration of the level of harm, which includes the impact on any victim or victims, is not affected by the provisions of the guideline.’
Youden plunged a blade diagonally into his victim’s abdomen — causing him to suffer a collapsed lung — in a completely unprovoked street attack in Inverkip on September 11, 2020.
He knifed his victim after a pal brandished a vodka bottle and threatened the frightened youth — who said he didn’t want any trouble — with violence.
Youden had been silent while his friend threatened the boy, but then suddenly produced the blade and lunged towards him, the court was told previously.
The pair were part of a group who had earlier shouted abuse at the lad and two of his friends.
Immediately after the attack the victim and his friends ran away and Youden gave chase for a short distance and shouted: “I’ll get yous all.”
The injured boy was later rushed to Inverclyde Royal and had to be transferred to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow after his condition deteriorated to a life-threatening state.
Youden had the knife, stained with the blood of his young victim, tucked into his waistband when police found him at Inverkip Railway Station.
He has been professionally assessed as someone with cognitive and consequential thinking difficulties who would be vulnerable in a custodial environment.
Solicitor Ms McGinty told the court: “It would be a brave decision to come away from a custodial sentence, but given his difficulties and vulnerabilities, it [custody] would create a perfect soldier for someone.”
Ms McGinty added: “It is very clear to the psychologist that Mr Youden is someone, given his abilities, who could be easily led by his peers.
“She is of the view that this can be targeted by treatment and cognitive behavioural therapy for him to better understand the consequences of his actions.”
Sheriff Higgins told Youden — a first offender — that he was imposing a community-based sentence as a direct alternative to custody after ‘taking all matters into account’.
Youden, of Inverkip Road in Greenock, will be under social work supervision for three years and he must complete 300 hours of unpaid work within 18 months.
He will also be subject to an electronic tag confining him to his father’s home between 9pm and 7am each day for ten months.
A progress review hearing has been fixed for February 15 next year. www.beaconartscentre.co.uk