Man found guilty of stabbing friend

Thursday 12 March 2020

A man has been found guilty of stabbing a friend he had been drinking with, before making off with his prescription medication.

The unanimous 'guilty' verdict against James Christopher Power (34) came following a two-day grave and criminal assault trial in the Royal Court.

The attack happened in August last year after the pair had spent time together in a property on Beach Road.

The Court heard that they had both previously spent time in jail but met shortly after they had left when Power was a teenager.

Pictured: The incident took place in a property on Beach Road. (Google Maps)

Summarising the facts for the jury, Crown Advocate Julian Gollop said Power had attacked the man to steal his meds.

The victim, who is his 50s, gave evidence in the trial. The Crown Advocate described him as "hostile" due to the fact he had provided evidence that was not supported and inconsistent with the statements he had given to the police. 

In those, the man had said Power stabbed him in the back of both legs with his own knife – a Spanish knife with a 18cm blade and a wooden handle, before trying to stab him in the chest. The man said he had got his arm cut by trying to deflect the latter.

A struggle then ensued during which Power grabbed the man’s left arm, telling him: “Give me your meds now or I’ll plug you.”

In Court, however, the man said he didn't recall how he had sustained his stab wounds and that he didn’t want anyone to be sent to prison on his behalf. He also said a man in a balaclava had attacked him that night. 

Pictured: Crown Advocate Julian Gollop was leading the case.

Power denied stabbing the man or causing him injuries intentionally. He told the jury he had acted in self-defence after he himself was attacked.

He claimed this had happened after the pair discussed an incident from years ago during which the other man had punched him and accused him of stealing his phone.  

Power said the man had put the bottom of the knife against his throat and then the blade. After he pushed him away, he claimed the man said: “I should have finished you years ago.” 

Power said the man then climbed over him, so he grabbed his hands, before pushing him away and getting the knife off him. “It happened very quickly,” Mr Power said.

After getting off the couch, Power said he tried to make his way out of the flat, at which point he stood on the man’s medication bag. “I thought, 'I’m having this.'… I had spent 30 quid on beers for him. I just took it.”

Pictured: Advocate Francesca Pinel was defending Power. 

In his closing speech, Crown Advocate Gollop described the incident as “an unprovoked assault”, saying Power had committed it as he wanted the man’s prescribed medication for his own use.

“The only plausible and believable account is that [the alleged victim] was attacked with his knife by Mr Power in his flat,” he concluded.

The defence lawyer, Advocate Francesca Pinel, said Power had acted in self-defence and did what he thought was necessary and reasonable for that in her own closing speech.

She described the alleged victim’s account as being “confused, riddled with lies and not reliable", suggesting he had been playing a game with the police and getting what he wanted from it.

Concluding her speech, she told the jury it was impossible to be sure what happened, and added Power “simply said he didn’t cause injuries and if he did it was unintentional".

The jury of six women and five men - one of them was discharged earlier today - retired for just over three hours. 

They returned an unanimous verdict. Power's conviction and his guilty plea to one count of larceny put him in breach of a community service and probation order imposed for offences of larceny on a person in August 2019.

He has been remanded in custody until his sentencing before the Superior Number - a panel that assembles only for the most serious cases - on 27 May.