'˜Peer-pressured' boy slashed two teenagers in fight

The teenager stabbed the 17-year-old boy with a ‘lethal’ Stanley knife, leaving him with two cuts to his scalp and a deeper laceration to his face.

The younger boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, could have been facing nine years in jail if he was an adult, a judge said.

He attacked the older boy, who had come along to the fight to defend his two younger relatives, the court heard.

The court heard the defendant and the older boy punched each other before the stabbing earlier this year.

A girl had wrongly told the defendant he was ‘going to be jumped’ by the older boy in Portsmouth with a knife, Jane Terri, prosecuting, said.

She added the pair had exchanged blows.

She said: ‘It seems that (the defendant) walked backwards whilst (the victim) walked towards him.

‘(The defendant), pulled out a knife, and lunged at (him), causing a significant injury.’

A 15-year-old girl – the older boy’s relative – then ‘intervened to separate’ the pair but was slashed in the arm.

The defendant was accused of previously being racist to the girl and another boy but the defendant denies this.

In a victim statement the 17-year-old said: ‘I no longer have nightmares (about the incident) but it’s the flashbacks that really disturb me.’

The defendant admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent, in relation to the boy, and GBH to the girl.

Addressing the boy in court, judge Sarah Munro QC said him being told the other teenager had a knife probably led him to being in the dock and that he should have gone home and told his parents.

Instead the defendant took a ‘lethal and very sharp Stanley knife’ to the fight, the judge said.

Judge Munro said she accepted the boy acted out of a ‘desire not to appear weak’.

Sentencing the teenager to a two-year detention and training order (DTO), judge Munro said she was taking an ‘extremely merciful course’.

The judge told the boy an adult would be facing a nine-year sentence but this term was halved due to his age before a further reduction for pleading guilty and mitigation.

Judge Munro then lowered a 28-month term to 24 months so he could receive a DTO.

He will serve half in a young offender institute and half outside supervised by the youth offending team.

Bridget O’Hagan, mitigating, said: ‘He’s incredibly naive and, I think, responding to peer pressure in a wholly inappropriate way. He would love to turn back the clock and deal with this in a different way.’

She added he was remorseful and acted to ‘show face’.