"You left the pub, leaving your victim for dead"

Monday 05 December 2022

A 58-year-old man who stabbed a fellow pubgoer with a kitchen knife in a "deliberate act of revenge" has been sent behind bars for 17 years.

Paul Anthony Hadikin thrust a large kitchen knife into the abdomen of the 35-year-old victim shortly after 21:00 on 3 December last year in the pool room of Temple Bar.

The 58-year-old was found guilty by a jury of attempted murder in July, when a jury heard how he left the pub to go home to collect a knife after an argument with the 35-year-old victim, which ended with Hadikin receiving a headbutt that split his lip and cracked two teeth.

Hadikin left the pub and returned 15 minutes later with a large kitchen knife, approached the victim, stabbed him, and left.

Returning home, he sent text messages to family members, saying in one: "I've just killed somebody." In another, he said: "Help. He is dead."

Pictured: One of the text exchanges between Hadikin and a family member.

During the trial, defending Advocate David Steenson argued that, while his client did not dispute that he had held the knife that pierced the victim's stomach, it had been accidental.

Hadikin had wanted to frighten the man who had earlier butted him, said the lawyer, but the two had come together has the pair had passed between the double-doors leading to the pub's pool room.

However, the jury members were unanimous in delivering a guilty verdict and Hadikin yesterday appeared before the Royal Court for sentencing.
Pushing for a sentence of at least 17 years' imprisonment, Advocate Matthew Maletroit, prosecuting, described the attack as "brutal and calculated" and said that Hadikin "acted at pace with the element of surprise".

He also drew the court's attention to the severity of the victim's injuries – indicated by the multiple phases of surgery and induced coma required after the attack – adding that "had he not received hospital treatment he would have died".

Other aggravating factors, he said, included the alcohol Hadikin had drunk on the night and the fact he had used a weapon.

Advocate Maletroit also invited the court to include a 'deterrent element' to the sentence in light of recent increase in "knife-related violence" in the island.
Advocate Mark Boothman, defending, pushed for a lower starting point of 15 years.

He sought to differentiate Hadikan's case from other stabbings, such as that of Liam Michael Carmody. Carmody was jailed for 10-and-a-half years in August for attempted murder – after stabbing his victim multiple times in the car park of the Ambassadeur Hotel in St Clement on 24 March.

Referring to the singular stab wound inflicted by Hadikin, Advocate Boothman contended that it was "not a frenzied attack", although he noted that he was not trying to "downplay" the seriousness of the case.

He told the court that, following the headbutt, his client was "not thinking consciously or clearly about what he was doing".

He did accept that there was "a degree of pre-meditation" but that it amounted to "minutes".

Delivering the court's sentence, The Bailiff, Sir Timothy Le Cocq, told Hadikin: "You left the pub, leaving your victim for dead, which is the belief you expressed in subsequent messages."

He added that it was "a matter of luck" that the victim had survived his injuries.

"You clearly intended to kill your victim and believed you had done so."

He noted that there had been an altercation prior to the stabbing, but added that 'there was more than a significant cooling-off period'.

Addressing Hadikin's claims that the stabbing had been accidental, he said: 'Clearly the jury, by their verdict, did not accept that account'.

"It was quite clear this offence was pre-meditated,' he continued.

"The crown categorises your attack as brutal and calculated, and we do not disagree."

He also agreed with the crown's view that a "deterrent" sentence was warranted.

Detective Constable Lynn Lang, the officer in charge of the investigation, said: “This was a deliberate act of revenge by Hadikin, following an earlier confrontation that left him feeling angry and humiliated.

"We hope that the sentence handed down today provides the victim with some closure from what must have been a frightening experience that continues to impact his life.”

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