By Grâçia Ada Obi
A young Derby man who punctured his partner’s eyeball with a knife as they sat in bed together has been convicted and is to be sentenced on September 20, 2024.
Peter Krok, 20-year-old of Glengary Way, was found guilty of attempted murder following a three-day trial at Derby Crown Court, United Kingdom.
The jury, by a majority of 11 to one, took around six hours of deliberation to convict Peter Krok of trying to kill the 60-year-old Neil Swain.
Krok stabbed Swain in the face and then went on to use the blade four more times on the victim’s head and neck before leaving the Normanton address and going on the run for three weeks.
CCTV played on day one of the trial showed the blood-soaked man answering the door to the Police and asking them “is my eye hanging out?” while holding linen to his head to stem the flow of blood from his wounds.
The defendant had denied the charge of attempted murder and an alternative one of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
But the jury chose to believe the victim’s evidence over his.
Judge Shaun Smith KC remanded Krok into custody and will sentence him on September 20.
Prosecutor Andy Peet said Krok, formerly of Fleet Street and now of Glengarry Way, carried out the knife attack at the victim’s address in Fleet Street, on December 21, last year.
Opening the case, he said: “The prosecution’s case, in a nutshell, is that for about a year prior to Christmas 2023, Peter Krok was in a relationship with a much older man, Neil Swain, who was almost 60. They were living together and the defendant was drug dependent, including cocaine, which he needed to get on a daily basis and Mr Swain gave him money to buy him drugs.
“On December 2021 both were in bed watching old episodes of Eastenders on TV. Out of nowhere, this defendant got a knife and stabbed Mr Swain without warning to the left side of his head. It fractured his eye socket and punctured his eyeball.”
