A teenager who slashed a 13-year-old boy's face and leaving him permanently blind has been jailed for 40 months. The schoolboy, who cannot be named due to his age, threatened to stab his victim weeks prior in text before carrying out the horror attack in the early hours of the morning outside a chippy.
A group of teens slipped away from their homes to watch the assault outside a chippy after the accused stated he 'needed this fight'. Wolverhampton Crown Court heard that the 14-year-old and his victim had 'some problems' in the lead up to the attack, reports Birmingham Live.
After the group of teens arrived outside King Cod Chippy, the accused spotted the defendant before walking towards him with his arms stretched and throwing the first punch. The victim managed to dodge the first attack before the defendant grabbed a knife out of his bag.
Prosecutor Caroline Harris says the schoolboy was bragging to his friends after the assault about 'poking' him in the eye. She said: "The young people who witnessed the event were obviously scared by what they saw.
"They described the defendant at one point seemingly pulling the knife down the victim's face, across his eye. The defendant was heard in the aftermath to be bragging about what he had done.
"[He said] "the victim got poked in the eye and I stabbed him. The victim did not say or do anything in response to this, other than run from the scene."
After escaping, the badly-injured victim woke up his parents, with footage from their home showing blood 'streaming' down his face. Medics at three different hospitals tended to his 'very nasty injury' but were unable to save his eye.
The sick schoolboy's young victim has been left so devastated by the horrific stabbing - delivered with such force that it fractured his eye socket - he cries in the night over his life-changing injury and struggles to leave his home.
In a statement, he said: "At the time of the incident, I didn't really care what happened but I care now because I'm not going to have my eye. I'm worried about how it is going to affect me when I'm older - it's going to be hard for me to learn to drive and to work.
"I cry at night time. I don't want people to see my eye, it makes me feel like I don't want to go out the house. I have not really been out since it happened.
"I don't want to go back to school because everyone will be asking questions."
Balbir Singh, defending, said the attacker, knows he should not have been carrying the blade and understands what he did was 'bad'. Mr Singh went on to say the boy 'lashed out' with the knife after his victim 'went for' him first but did not intend to wound him.
The teenager said: "I can't change what I have done to the victim or take back the pain I have caused to him and his family. I will continue to work hard to become a better person."
Sentencing, Judge Michael Chambers KC branded the defendant a dangerous offender, who should have been asleep during the time of the incident. The judge said: "You should not have been out at all, you should have been in your bed.
"You went out with a kitchen knife intent on having a fight. Not only did you cause irreparable damage to the eye itself, the force of the blow was so hard as to cause a fracture of his eye socket.
"He has lost his vision for the rest of his life. He inevitably is going to find this to be a significant disability as he goes about his normal day-to-day activities in the years ahead."
The defendant admitted wounding with intent and possession of a blade in a public place on August 7. He was handed a sentence of 40 months in detention.
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