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A 30-year-old man has been thrown behind bars for seven years over a stabbing that followed a row over a drugs debt.
Following an initial altercation over a drugs debt, Robert Adrian Canavan (30) returned to the Wellington Park Estate where the victim lived “furious”, seeking “revenge” and armed with two knives, the Royal Court heard.
Both Canavan and his victim suffered serious injuries.
Canavan had pleaded guilty to the two charges of grave and criminal assault and possession of an offensive weapon, but a Newton hearing needed to be held to establish the facts of the case before the court was able to sentence him.
He had denied bringing two knives when he returned to the estate, but the court found on Tuesday that he had not picked them up off the floor but brought them to the fight.
Crown Advocate Christina Hall, prosecuting, told the court yesterday: “You don’t bring a knife to a gunfight, you don’t bring your fists when you know it’s going to be a knife fight.”
The court heard over the past three days that Canavan had gotten into an argument with his victim over a drugs debt, having exchanged texts and calls alluding to money that the victim owed to Canavan.
Having not received his money – and chased it via text and calls – he travelled to the Wellington Park Estate in St Saviour on Sunday 3 September.
Witnesses who live in the area recounted how they saw Canavan be pursued by the victim and two other men.
He then returned to his home, and got a taxi back to St Saviour. He tried to gain entry to his girlfriend's house, a few doors down from the victim's, but could not get in.
He called a taxi but only stayed in for around a minute - before getting back out of the vehicle and "goading" his victim out of his house.
The two were then seen having an altercation in the street, during which both men stabbed one another.
Canavan called an ambulance for himself, and his victim was later found in his house. Both had serious injuries and were taken to hospital, where they were later arrested.
Canavan had a 14cm cut to his face, while his victim had wounds to his chest and liver.
The court heard how he needed emergency surgery to his abdomen and how he might have died had he not been found.
Advocate Olaf Blakeley, defending, described the defendant as "a kind man" and "genuine".
"It's very easy, in my submission, for people, for the general public or courts or professionals to see things through their own lens.
"This is a man who over a period of time through his life has had disruption. He's experienced violence, he's been brought up in an unstable environment.
"When you are set upon by three people who are kicking, punching and stabbing you, his learning in life, his go-to, if you like, is that failing to respond to that, failing to engage with that has serious consequences because of how you are viewed by others in gangs, or other criminals.
"It is his learned response.
"It doesn't excuse what he did but it explains what he did.
"It is for that reason that Mr Canavan accepts that actually, what he needs here and now is professional help."
He noted that he had engaged with professional help since the incident, that he was following an Open University Course to retrain in health and safety, and that he had found him reading National Geographic in his cell.
"I find them interesting," Canavan had told his advocate. "I am trying to improve."
Pleading guilty to the charges – particularly in circumstances where the victim was not cooperating with the investigation – made the case significantly easier to bring, the advocate argued.
Commissioner Sir William Bailhache presided over both the trial and sentencing.
The Jurats sitting in the Newton hearing were Kim Averty and Gareth Hughes.
For the sentencing, the Royal Court convened in the Superior Number, which is only used in the most serious cases. The sentencing Jurats were Elizabeth Dulake, Kim Averty, Gareth Hughes, Alison Opfermann, and Michael Entwistle.
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Pictured top: The area near Wellington Park was closed to traffic whilst crime scene investigators and search officers collected evidence after the stabbing. (Rob Currie)
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