Nightclub might have ‘become massacre’ after knight combat broke out

A nightclub “could have turned into a bloodbath” after two men produced weapons when a fight broke out. Grady Mabika-Blessing, 25, threatened to stab a man who was trying to stop it escalating and who moments later felt “something sharp” in his ribs, a court heard.

Nottingham Crown Court heard the armed defendant, who was “fuelled by drink”, was forced outside the packed club but then tried to get back in.

If it wasn’t for the bravery of the door staff he might have managed to. He has now been jailed for 14 months. Judge Stuart Rafferty told Mabika-Blessing: “It is all very easy after the dust has settled to say ‘I regret what I did’ and ‘I can’t remember what I did’.

“In your case I think you know perfectly well what you did. What you were was part of a group that night and two of you had armed yourselves with weapons. Fuelled by drink in a crowded nightclub in close proximity to many people an argument began and you were not prepared to let that argument drop.”

The judge said a bottle was thrown by one man who “produced a knife and you came into possession of a knife”, Nottingham Live reports.

He added: “You were then waving that knife around , it is a miracle no-one was seriously injured. One witness says he was jabbed in the ribs by you with something sharp and you had threatened to ‘shank’ him if he did not get out of your face. This could have turned into a bloodbath in a short period of time had it not been for (the intervention of) the door staff.

“This is three times you have been convicted of serious offences in this country and it may be that you had a difficult childhood as many people in your country no doubt have. But I would have thought the purpose of coming to this country was to leave all of that behind.”

Serena Varatharajah, prosecuting, said the violence erupted at Billionz nightclub, in Nottingham, on February 15. She said during it Mabika-Blessing and a second man produced weapons. During a fight Mabika-Blessing pulled a knife out, she said.

The prosecutor said: “A witness said they tried to restrain the defendant to stop matters escalating but this defendant headbutted him, threatened to ‘shank (stab)’ him and he felt something sharp in his rib area. This defendant then tried to get back into the venue and then ran away.”

Mabika-Blessing, of Leyton, east London, admitted affray and possession of a bladed article. He has four previous convictions for six offences including a past jail term for drugs from 2021 and 2022.

William Shelley, mitigating, said the defendant accepts he had been in “a busy bar that was at capacity” but that he only brandished the knife for a short period of time. He said: “He accepts fully what he did but he tells me he cannot remember the incident itself.

“He says his upbringing was traumatic and that he witnesses violence and class A drug use. He tells me that on this night he made, in his own words, ‘a stupid mistake’.

“He says for the 10 steps he has taken to move away from criminality this incident has put him 20 steps back.” The hearing was told how the second man involved in the affray had previously been jailed for 18 months at an earlier hearing.

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