Man cleared of attempt to murder during row

HE’S ALSO FOUND NOT GUILTY OF WOUNDING A WOMAN, AGED 18

A DEFENDANT has been cleared by a jury of trying to kill a man and injuring a woman during an argument.

Mark MacIntosh was found not guilty of attempting to murder a 23-year-old man, who suffered a punctured lung and stab wounds to his head, neck, arms and chest.

The 42-year-old was also cleared of wounding with intent towards an 18-year-old woman, who sustained cuts to her hand and thigh.

The prosecution alleged the defendant attacked the pair during a domestic incident at a house in Flatholme Road, Netherhall, Leicester, on the morning of January 6, 2018.

MacIntosh, of no fixed address, denied the charges at Leicester Crown Court, claiming he had “no choice” but to defend himself against the man.

He said the injuries to the woman were caused accidentally.

The jury heard the defendant was staying at the house in Flatholme Road with his partner and her relatives, where tensions were high.

MacIntosh told the jury he suspected the boyfriend of his partner’s daughter had a knife in his pocket as the heated argument took place upstairs.

MacIntosh became involved in the row. The defendant accepted he armed himself with a knife from the kitchen before going back upstairs – where he claimed the alleged victim stared at him.

He said as he reached out to check what was in the man’s pocket, he was felled by an upper-cut punch.

The defendant told the court: “I got straight back up, I was dazed and saw a blur coming towards me like a vision.

“My first instinct was to wave my knife at him and that’s what caused me to catch his head.

“I thought if he saw the knife he’d back off but he just kept coming forward. I was wrestling, we were holding

I was dazed and saw a blur. My first instinct was to wave my knife at him

Mark Macintosh

each other, there were a few punches. I had the knife in my hand and was punching him, not really stabbing him. “My vision came back and I felt someone getting in between us, dragging me and pushing me off.”

He said he realised the man was bleeding and backed away, unaware another daughter of his partner had been accidentally hurt. MacIntosh said he only meant to show his knife and scare the man off, or to restrain him.

He said he acted to protect himself and went upstairs with a knife, rather than leaving the house, because he feared for the safety of the man’s girlfriend.

He then left in panic and did not hand himself into the police for 19 months. Judge Nicholas Dean QC asked: “You did it trying to defend yourself and (the 18-year-old woman), did you think you’d done something wrong?” MacIntosh said: “Yes, because I shouldn’t have acted like that, I regret the way things happened. “I didn’t know I injured him this bad. I felt guilty afterwards.”

He said he went on the run because “I didn’t know what to do and my head was all over the place.”

After the jury of six men and six women delivered not guilty verdicts on both counts, Judge Nicholas Dean QC imposed an indefinite restraining order on the defendant, banning him from any contact with either complainant or two other people and prohibiting him from going to the address in Flatholme Road.

The defendant’s solicitor advocate, Michael Garvey, said MacIntosh did not object to the restraining order.