PHILIPSBURG–A 28-year-old man suspected of premeditated, attempted murder may be sentenced to seven years if the Judge considers it proven that he stabbed his former brother-in-law several times in the vicinity of China Bar and Restaurant on A.Th. Illidge Road on March 31, 2018.
The Prosecutor’s Office considered attempted murder proven as defendant F.J.F., after an altercation with the victim, had gone to his nearby home to pick up a kitchen knife after which he returned to the bar where he stabbed the victim without any warning.
The defendant denied the charges during Thursday’s hearing and said he did not have the intention to kill after he was confronted by his ex-wife, her new boyfriend and her brother. He said his ex-brother-in-law had beaten him up, making him angry and agitated.
He said he went home and picked up a knife to defend himself after the attack. “I was angry, and it ran out of hand that day. He was abusing me and that wasn’t the first time. It was not my intention for it to run out of hand. I went back to the bar to talk not to stab him,” the suspect told the Judge.
The victim was stabbed three times in his abdomen from various sides. He was severely injured and had to fight for his life.
The stabber fled the scene after the incident, but voluntarily turned himself in at the Police Station later.
The Parole Board recommended a suspended prison sentence with community service and a restraining order. An examining psychologist in his report called the defendant “very aggressive” and suggested Aggression Replacement Training (ART) and Parole Board Supervision.
The Prosecutor said the defendant was “quite worked up” after the confrontation with his ex-wife’s brother. According to the Prosecution, the defendant knew exactly what he was doing as he had stabbed the victim without any warning and without any provocation.
In pointing out that the victim sustained three stab wounds with a depth of approximately three centimetres in the abdomen, the Prosecutor said sufficient evidence was provided to consider the primary charge and weapon possession on the public road proven.
As the defendant is currently not detained, the Prosecutor called upon the Court to lift the suspension of the suspect’s preliminary detention, in case of a conviction.
Attorney-at-law Geert Hatzmann said his client had confessed to the stabbing, which he qualified as attempted manslaughter.
“This was no liquidation, but a stabbing during a fight. My client felt severely humiliated – and not for the first time – and was very angry about that…My client is no sly villain with bad intentions. If my client really had such a ‘short fuse’ he would have been involved with bar fights or something similar much sooner,” the lawyer said.
Hatzmann recommended a prison sentence of two years in combination with community service, ART and possibly a fine or compensation to the victim. The Judge will give his decision April 25.
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/86799-seven-years-asked-for-near-fatal-bar-stabbing
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