Two men have been jailed after one man was stabbed and another punched so hard that his front teeth were knocked out in a confrontation earlier this year.
George Horsted was with Damien Lee when got into a spat with a man at the Toby Carvery in Goring Road, Worthing, on a Sunday afternoon in March.
Horsted punched the man hard twice and, when they left the pub, Lee went to his nearby flat and fetched a kitchen knife, Lewes Crown Court was told.
Before long, Horsted had taken the knife and attacked a second man with the knife – and, as blood pumped from his wound, he feared he would die.
Horsted, 27, a roofer and father of two, was jailed for three years and Lee, 28, the father of a young child, was jailed for two years by Judge Mark Van Der Zwart.
Jeffrey Lamb, prosecuting, said that the pair were convicted by a jury in September of unlawful wounding after a trial at Lewes.
At the trial Dale Sullivan, prosecuting, said that the incident had started at the Toby Carvery on Sunday 24 March.
It ended with the stabbing less than 100 yards away near the Costa Coffee shop, on the corner of Goring Road and Pembroke Avenue.
Horsted punched Reuben Slyfield, 22, from Worthing, in the Toby Carvery. Mr Slyfield lost three front teeth in the attack, the court was told.
Horsted and Lee left the pub and the latter went and armed himself with a knife.
When Mr Slyfield and another man, Eumenides Quibelo, 30, from London, approached the pair in the street to ask why Horsted had hit him in the pub, Horsted became violent again.
He wrestled the knife from Lee and stabbed Mr Quibelo in the abdomen. The pair then went to Lee’s nearby flat, change clothes and made their escape.
After the police made a public appeal for help finding the pair, published in the media, they handed themselves in in early April.
Mr Lamb said that Horsted had 11 convictions for 17 offences from 2013 to 2021 including for assault and having an offensive weapon. One of his previous convictions was an armed robbery committed with a knife.
Mr Lamb said that Lee had 16 convictions for 26 offences from 2009 to last year including for drugs offences, affray, assault, racially aggravated common assault and breaches of public order.
The pair were sentenced on Monday (9 December) after the judge heard mitigation from Jordan Franks, for Horsted, and Tayo Adebayo, for Lee.
Mr Franks said that Horsted had stayed out of trouble for three years but, before that, he said: “His life was very different then. He was dependent on illicit substances and he drank a lot … He apologises for his actions.”
Mr Adebayo said that Lee had gone to his flat to fetch the knife to try to frighten or scare off Mr Quibelo and Mr Slyfield.
He added: “It was a terrible decision that he made to go and get the knife. He takes responsibility for his offending.”
Both have been in custody since April and both had a good record while in prison on remand.
Judge Van Der Zwart said: “The public are greatly concerned at knife crime.
“This case is a prime example of a situation where a person thinks they’ll arm themself with a knife either to defend themself or, at most, to use it to threaten someone else.
“Then, a confrontation develops and within seconds the knife can be used to cause serious injury or death.
“Those who take knives out in public must expect severe punishment.
“I am satisfied that the criteria are met for making ‘serious violence reduction orders’ in respect of you both.”
The judge said that the order permitted police officers “to stop and search you in a public place to see if you’re in possession of weapons”.
He added: “The orders will last for two years from when you’re released from your respective prison sentences.”
