A thug has been jailed for three years after he admitted stabbing a man twice with a screwdriver.
Darren Thaw thought he was going to die as he clutched his blood-soaked side in agony and asked witnesses to tell his mother he loved her.
However, the puncture wounds made by repeat offender Kevin Herd’s screwdriver were not deep enough to cause life-threatening injuries.
Yesterday, the 32-year-old appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court and admitted carrying out the violent attack at 10 Ash Hill Place in the city on September 11 this year.
Herd was originally accused of attempted murder, however the Crown reduced the charge to assault to severe injury.
The court heard Mr Thaw had gone to the address where the stabbing took place in search of a man who had been staying with Herd.
When he was unable to speak to him, the victim became aggressive and punched Herd to the face.
Fiscal depute David Bernard said Mr Thaw then turned around and left the flat, before Herd was seen to chase him and “lunge twice” at him, plunging the weapon into his side.
The court heard Herd, a prisoner at HMP and YOI Grampian, then fled the scene and dumped the screwdriver in a yellow council grit bin, where it was later found by police who were investigating the incident.
Jailing Herd, who has similar convictions from 2003, 2005 and 2006, Sheriff William Summers said it was “fortunate the attack did not endanger his victim’s life”.
He said that given the severity of the assault and his previous convictions there was no alternative than to impose a “lengthy” prison sentence.