By Grâçia Ada Obi
A Chesterfield duo has been jailed for over 10 years after a violent attack with a multiple stabbing on a pub-goer which left him with facial scars after “emergency surgery.”
Jordan Basnett, 30, and David Davies, 41, set upon the victim The Woodside pub on Ashgate Road for unknown reasons, however Derby Crown Court heard Basnett had knocked back “eight pints” before arriving at the boozer and starting the fight by “headbutting” the victim.
Davies then joined in, stabbing the victim multiple times with a Stanley knife before bar staff intervened and brought the attack to an end during the horrifying incident on on April 13 2023.
The victim was rushed to hospital after being knifed twice in the back once in the face for “emergency surgery” where he was found to have two collapsed lungs and “abnormally low blood pressure”.
Speaking about the victim, prosecutor Sam Jones said: “He realised his shirt was saturated with blood and was taken to hospital. He had been stabbed to the middle and lower back and the face.”
Two other men who just happened to be in the pub on the same night were recruited by Basnett and Davies to assist them in the aftermath, the court heard. Alan Turner, 52, who “knew none of the defendants” and was “simply drinking beer” at the time was asked to hide the Stanley knife and did so by throwing it into a car.
Fellow pub-goer Adrian Cherry, 53, who knew the defendants, had driven off in his van as the attack worsened, not wanting to be involved. However as he left the pub he was “flagged” down by Basnett and Davies, thereby helping them flee the scene in his vehicle.
Mr Jones described how at around 10.15pm Basnett, 30, who had drunk “eight pints” before he arrived, headbutted the victim for reasons which are not clear.
Davies then struck him in the torso. Basnett punched the complainant twice and dragged him around by his clothes while punching him to the face and kicking him before Davies then the victim twice in the back and in the face.
The court heard in hospital the victim’s blood pressure was found to be “abnormally low” while injuries included two collapsed lungs. He was given a blood transfusion and then operated on before being transferred to intensive care. The attack had left him with “extensive scarring to the face”.
Knife man Davies was arrested on June 16 and was found with a Stanley knife in his pocket. During questioning he told the police the victim “deserved it”.
The court heard Davies had 20 previous convictions for 39 offences including battery, Basnett had two convictions for three offences including assault with actual bodily harm. Cherry was of previous good character, while Turner had 10 convictions for 16 offences including possession of a bladed article.
Judge Nigel Graham Godsmark KC told Davies the incident was a “prolonged and persistent assault”, adding: “(The victim) needed emergency surgery – his condition was life-threatening and he could easily have died and will bear facial scars for life.”
Addressing Basnett, he said: “You started this, you knew Mr Davies had a knife and was prepared to use it. You attacked the victim.” Sentencing Turner and Cherry for assisting an offender, he told Turner he did an “extremely foolish and idiotic thing” taking the knife, while he observed that unwitting getaway driver Cherry told the court he had “panicked”.
Basnett, of Butterton Drive, Holme Hall, admitted wounding with intent and was jailed for five years, while Davies, of no fixed abode, admitted wounding with intent and possession of a knife in a public place and was locked up for five years and 10 months.
Cherry, of Firvale Road, Walton, and Turner, of Oakamoor Close, Holme Hall, both admitted assisting an offender and were each jailed for six months suspended for two years with 20 rehabilitation activity days. Cherry was handed 150 hours of unpaid work and Turner was ordered to serve a three-month curfew.