Man jailed for knife attack in Sheffield newsagents

Multen Fang, aged 26, was jailed for 21 months over the attack, which took place at around 4.30pm on June 10 this year, after pleading guilty to charges of affray and having a bladed article in a public place.

As he sent Fang to prison, Judge David Dixon told him: “This is knife crime in the city centre of Sheffield and the message must go out, loud and clear, that we will not tolerate knives in the city centre.”

Prosecutor Graham O’Sullivan told Sheffield Crown Court how, in the minutes preceding the knife attack inside a newsagents on Exchange Street, Fang was involved in an exchange with a group of men that included the victim.

Mr O’Sullivan said CCTV footage obtained by the police showed Fang was “punched” by a member of the group, and he later responded to this by “running towards” the victim and “appearing to punch him.”

This led to members of the group “delivering” blows upon Fang, Mr O’Sullivan said.

Around 17 minutes later, the CCTV footage showed Fang, of Tenterden Road, Wincobank, chasing the victim who subsequently ran into the newsagents.

Judge Dixon said: “He took sanctuary in the shop. In doing so a member of the public was bundled out of the way and was confronted by [the sight of] you coming in and stabbing, without any hesitation, towards the victim’s knee.”

The victim suffered a stab wound to his knee, but he, along with his associates who were involved in the earlier altercation, refused to provide the police with any information.

The court heard was told that an investigation into their part in affray during the first incident is currently ongoing.

Defending, Tim Gaubert, said Fang, a Cameroonian national who is in the process of appealing a rejected asylum application, suffered a stab wound to his buttock, as well as cuts and bruises in the first altercation with the group.

Mr Gaubert said Fang had acknowledged that he could not claim self-defence through his guilty pleas, and outlined Fang’s basis of plea which asserted that the knife used to stab the victim belonged to the victim and that Fang came into possession of it during the earlier scuffle.

This was rejected by Judge Dixon who said: “It’s implausible that someone who has just stabbed you would drop the knife near you...and allow you to pick it up.”

Mr Gaubert said DNA analysis of the knife used in the stabbing, which Judge Dixon described as a “terrifying looking” kitchen knife, showed there were traces of the victim’s DNA on the blade, and traces of Fang’s DNA on the handle.

Judge Dixon also said he rejected suggestions that Fang had been left “scared and in fear” on the basis that he did not “run away” from the group after being assaulted, and instead tried to “attack others.”

He said that in sentencing Fang he had taken the “difficult circumstances” in Cameroon that he had fled from, as well as his lack of previous convictions in this country into consideration, but felt the offence was “extremely serious” and must result in immediate custody.

South Yorkshire Police have been asked to provide a custody image of Fang.

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