Man stabbed woman in front of child in Stocking Farm, Leicester

A man who stabbed a woman three times in front of a two-year-old child has been jailed for four years and eight months.

Devon Delroy Lewis knifed the 28-year-old victim in the chest and back and also wounded her on the leg.

She fled his flat in Modbury Avenue, Stocking Farm, Leicester, leaving a trail of blood on a stairway and down the street, where she called for an ambulance.

When arrested, Lewis (43) told the police: "I should have killed her."

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He was originally charged with attempted murder but the prosecution accepted his guilty plea to an alternative count of wounding with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm, on May 5.

Leicester Crown Court was told the victim and defendant had known each other for several years and had previously slept together.

The night before the attack, the victim was babysitting the child, who was the daughter of another of Lewis's lovers.

She slept on the settee in the lounge with the infant, while Lewis slept in the bedroom with the mother.

The next day, the mother went out to get Lewis some paracetamol because he had a headache.

While she was gone, Lewis, who had taken drugs, became enraged with the victim at the mention of her being involved with another man.

Andrew Copeland, prosecuting, said: "He went past her into the kitchen and armed himself with a knife and without saying anything attacked her."

While stabbing her upper body with a three-inch bladed knife – causing two one-centimetre wounds – she sustained cut hands trying to fend him off. She screamed at him that she would leave the flat.

It happened in front of the child. He stopped and went into his bedroom.

The child's mother returned and while she was present he resumed the attack, stabbing the victim's leg because she had not left the flat.

She suffering a two-centimetre gash behind her knee.

The victim was treated in hospital where she stayed overnight. She did not suffer internal injuries and was discharged the next day.

Sentencing, Judge Michael Pert QC said: "You deliberately took a knife and stabbed her in your own home, in the presence of others, including a child.

"The offence was committed while under the influence of drugs."

Carl Gaskell, mitigating, said: "He was at the end of his tether with stalking from the complainant.

"He felt intimidated and harassed, although he made no formal complaint about it."

The prosecution did not accept the victim had been stalking the defendant.

Mr Gaskell said: "He knows there were other avenues to go down to get assistance."