A Teesside man has been jailed after stabbing a dad three times in an unprovoked attack at a North Yorkshire holiday park
A holidaymaker was left battling for his life after being stabbed three times in a terrifying unprovoked attack at a popular caravan park.
A man from Teesside who carried out the grim attack at a North Yorkshire holiday park has been sentenced to four and a half years behind bars. Joshua Donnelly, 22, of Duxford Road, Middlesbrough, admitted to the offence of Section 18 wounding with intent and was sentenced on Friday, 12 June at York Crown Court.
The incident unfolded at Flamingo Land Resort, Kirby Misperton, near Pickering, just past 1am on Thursday, 18 September last year. Donnelly attacked the victim with a four-inch black-handled knife that he had retrieved from the caravan’s kitchen drawer.
This occurred following a domestic dispute Donnelly was embroiled in with his partner, during which the victim had tried to defuse the situation. Donnelly stabbed him three times in his abdomen.
The 38-year-old from the Scottish Borders, who was enjoying a family holiday and staying in a nearby caravan, had to be whisked off to hospital by ambulance for emergency surgery due to a punctured colon, reports the Mirror.
As police officers arrived on the crime scene, Donnelly fled from the holiday park. After extensive investigations and searches, a car he was travelling in was intercepted by officers over the Cleveland Police border later that day.
Donnelly was arrested and subsequently charged with the stabbing.
Police Investigator Liberty Ashton, from Scarborough and Ryedale CID, stated: “Due to the overwhelming evidence stacked against Joshua Donnelly, he was left with very little option but to plead guilty to this terrible, vicious offence that could so easily have taken an innocent man’s life.
“Despite surviving the unprovoked knife attack, it has had a huge, long-term effect on the victim and his family. They have had to learn to live with everything that this senseless violent act has left behind. I really hope the outcome at court provides them with some comfort and strength to move forward with their lives.”
The victim said in a statement: “What was a family holiday, has turned into a nightmare, not only for myself but my wider family too. Since the incident happened back in September, my whole family has been affected in some sort of way.
“My son, who is 15 years old, hasn’t been the same since. I worry about him. He has become a lot quieter; he used to be social and go out with his friends often. Since the incident happened, he hardly goes out with friends anymore, he is terrified. I have noticed he has become more attached to my partner and I; he used to sit in his bedroom on a night as teenagers do. However, now he sits with us in the living room and spends more time with us than ever before.
“I have found it difficult to speak about what happened to me, and to speak about how it has made me feel. I am trying to bring myself to go speak to a professional, but I have been burying my head, hoping it goes away. I feel I have handled it by throwing myself back into life, I’ve been trying to do too much that I would have been able to cope with prior to the stabbing.
“Because of my injuries, my nerves in my right leg have been damaged meaning it’s a lot weaker and different to what it was. I am self-conscious of the way I walk now, which I think is a big part of why I struggle to socialise.
“My difficulties with mobility have not only affected my employment, but my home life, we have had to adjust. My partner took on the care responsibilities for me particularly when I first came home from hospital. We couldn’t have ever imagined to taking on these roles so early on in life especially under these circumstances.
“I could not get upstairs in our home for over a month. We had to get a bed for the living room, and my partner slept downstairs beside me on the sofa in case I needed her through the night.”