Portsmouth thug who stabbed girlfriend in neck with kitchen knife jailed for 7 years

A ‘pleasant day’ between ‘dangerous’ Nicholas Caine and his girlfriend descended into a violent fight between the lovers, with the victim ‘lucky’ to avoid life-threatening injuries from the stabbing.

Caine, 34, immediately went on the run from police.

‘She threw a bottle at me and I stabbed her with a kitchen knife and now I’m on the run for attempted murder,’ Caine declared in a text message recovered by police after the incident on April 17.

Portsmouth Crown Court heard how Caine, of Balfour Road, North End, was later arrested by police when they turned up on his mum’s door step - with Caine punching his mum after feeling betrayed when she let them in.

The court was told how an argument erupted when Caine was confronted by his girlfriend at an address in Emsworth after she found pictures of the defendant and messages to other women on a device.

‘She found indecent images of you and confronted you and you reacted by telling her you did not want to see her or your baby son anymore,’ judge Timothy Mousley QC said.

‘She then threw a bottle towards you in the kitchen before you smashed your phone and punched her in the face and you put your thumb into her eyes and picked up a knife with a three inch blade and stabbed her.

‘The knife penetrated her neck by 1.5in. The nature of the wound showed there was significant force and there were thoughts she could be at risk of delayed complications - with it potentially life threatening.’

The victim put a tea towel onto the wound to stem the bleeding with the blood flow having dried up by the time emergency crews arrived before she was taken to hospital.

‘Mercifully, the puncture wound did not turn out to be life threatening,’ judge Mousley said.

The victim, in her statement read out to court, said: ‘I was in shock and couldn’t believe he punched me with the baby in my hands.’

She also said they were ‘both at fault’ after she threw a glass bottle and admitted the defendant’s response was ‘out of character’. She said Caine was a ‘good father’ who found it hard to cope with her.

She added: ‘I just wish it didn’t happen.’

Edward Hollingsworth, mitigating, said Caine picked up the knife from the dining table as an ‘instinctive response’ to having a glass bottle thrown at him.

‘The stabbing was not part of a sustained assault,’ he said.

He added it was a ‘single blow in the heat of the moment’ but conceded it was ‘lucky she did not suffer more serious harm’.

The court was told Caine, who admitted wounding with intent, faced the prospect of a life sentence after being jailed for the same offence following an attack in August 2014 before being released in 2019.

Despite opting not to impose a life term, judge Mousley told Caine: ‘I conclude that you are dangerous and present a risk to the public.’

He added: ‘You have a short temper and become angry and violent very easily and quickly and on occasions resort to using a knife.’

It led to the judge to impose an extended licence due to the ‘very serious risk of further offences’ in order to protect the public.

SEE ALSO: Police detective jailed for forgery

Caine was handed a seven-year and two-month term with an extended licence period of five years.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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