Yob plunged knife through girlfriend’s hand
AVIOLENT offender who stabbed his girlfriend through the hand in a drunken rage has been jailed.
David Young had returned from a night out drinking with his partner when he began ‘ kicking off’ and attacked her with a knife, leaving her with ‘chronic problems’ in her hand, Burnley Crown Court heard.
Young, of New Line, Bacup, pleaded guilty to unlawful wounding and was handed an extended sentence of five years in prison. Due to his violent record with six convictions, several for assault, battery and robbery, Judge Andrew Woolman also classified him a ‘dangerous offender’.
Prosecutor Andrew Evans told the court that 43-year-old Young had returned from a ‘ good’ night out drinking at the Stacksteads working men’s club with his partner of a year to her home in Stacksteads on March 18 when he flew into a rage and began a ‘ sustained assault’.
He said: “Without any warning he attacked her on the face with a brush, causing the brush head to break off. He dragged her around and kicked and punched her.
“There came a point where she put her left hand on the table, he picked up a kitchen knife and stabbed her through this hand. It had gone all the way through.
“She pulled the knife out of her hand and asked why he had done it, he gave a rambling reply and started to mop the blood up.”
The court head that the victim then went upstairs and Young followed her, got into bed and fell asleep, where he was later arrested.
She escaped to her cousin’s house who called an ambulance and paramedics alerted the police. She had bruising to her left cheek and a deep wound in her left hand which required exploratory surgery.
She required physiotherapy on her hand and had tendon damage in her middle finger. When interviewed by police, Young had claimed that the victim had attacked him and had already stabbed herself.
Defending, Patrick Buckley told the court that Young had ‘no intention to cause harm’ and that he was trying to seek help in prison for his alcohol problem.
He said: “The night had gone as good as could have been expected but of course the demon drink took a grip of him and there is this momentary loss of control where he stabs her.
“He remains confused as to why he did what he did to her. Sobriety brings shame and he is sorrowful for what he did.”