Knifeman is jailed over Cannock street attack
A knife attacker who slashed his victim across the face in a street attack has been jailed for seven-and-a-half years.
Window cleaner Shane Gittings stabbed Ben Scott without warning after an exchange of words, Stafford Crown Court heard.
The victim was walking in Cannock with his friend Michael Bolton when Gittings pushed between them, said Mr Mark Rees, prosecuting.
After an exchange of words, the defendant said to Mr Scott 'what's your problem?' He seemed to be fiddling with something in his hand – a lock knife with a three-inch blade.
Gittings took a large swipe with the knife, connecting with the left side of Mr Scott's face. He was later taken to hospital to have a two centimetre wound stitched. The court heard that at the time of the knifing in Pennine Way, on 17 August last year, Gittings was on bail for a 'cowardly' assault on his partner, Kay Frith.
Gittings, aged 23, of Bevan Lee Road, Cannock, admitted wounding Mr Scott with intent to do grievous bodily harm and assaulting Miss Frith causing actual bodily harm.
Recorder Mr Martin Forde QC told him: "The facts of this case are seriously disturbing. You went out armed with a knife to a public place where you encountered Mr Scott, you approached them in an aggressive manner, without warning you stepped forward and took a swing.
"This was also a cowardly attack. You are extremely lucky not to be facing a charge of murder or manslaughter."
Mr Rees said the attack on Miss Frith started when she was in bed at Gittings' home around 6.30am on 29 March last year.
Gittings had been out all night and she was woken by him banging on the window. She told him to sleep on the sofa, but he went upstairs and started talking to her.
Without warning he punched her in the face, causing her nose to bleed. She tried to leave the bedroom, but was dragged back in by the defendant. She eventually managed to push him off and escape from the house, but Gittings pursued her in to a neighbour's garden where he bit her twice, causing considerable pain.
Someone had called the police who arrested Gittings on their arrival. It was whilst on bail for that attack that he knifed Mr Scott.
The court heard that Gittings had a record for violence, including fracturing a student's jaw for which he was jailed for 16 months in June 2011.
Mr Neil Gerrity, defending, said: "The defendant is a Jeckyll and Hyde character. He's assumed the mantle of the head of the household. He turned to drink as a way of dealing with pressures and once he started drinking, also took drugs."
Mr Gerrity said neither assault was premeditated. Regarding the knife attack, Gittings struck a single blow, then dropped the knife and ran away rather than make the situation worse, he added.
