Teenager punctured rival's lungs outside Leeds McDonald's in frenzied knife attack
A teenager left another with punctured lungs outside a McDonald’s, moments after he was heard to say: “F*** this, I’m going to stab him.”
Joshua Brown armed himself and attacked the victim, stabbing at him wildly. Sickening CCTV was played to Leeds Crown Court from outside the restaurant on Cardigan Fields, along with footage taken by a shocked bystander.
The 19-year-old was jailed after he admitted GBH with intent.
CCTV showed that Brown and two others, a boy and a girl, had been into the restaurant at around 4.20pm on May 13 last year, then sat outside.
The victim walked past and the group stared at him. Someone was heard calling the victim a “foreign b******” and telling him to “f*** off”.
The victim and Brown stared at each other and gestured, with the victim appearing to walk away then return with Brown getting to his feet. The victim then turned and began walking away again.
Brown then retrieved the knife from his bag, and said he was going to stab him. The two boys then followed the victim to the public path outside the restaurant where they both could been swinging at him.
Brown could be seen making three thrusting motions towards the victim’s back. Members of the public intervened before the boys grabbed their bags and left the area.
It was thought that the blade was between three and four inches long, although it was never found.
The victim spent five days in hospital and had to have his lungs drained.
Brown, of Wensleydale Close, Armley, was arrested but did not admit the crime. He was later picked out by the victim in an ID parade.
Brown has no previous convictions. Mitigating, Andrew Stranex described it as a “desperately sad situation” with Brown being only 18 at the time.
He added: “He recognises the enormity of what has happened. He expresses, through me, his genuine remorse for what he did.
“He frankly struggles to understand what he did that day.”
He said Brown had stopped drinking and had ADHD. He said that he struggled with his mental health and that the knife he had, he used to self harm.
The judge, Recorder Richard Thyne told Brown: “It could have easily been worse or even fatal.”
He gave him four years’ detention.