Sheffield Crown Court: Prisoner stabbed fellow inmate with a toilet brush converted into a spike

Sheffield Crown Court heard on August 5 how Kairiba Jammeh, aged 20, struck the fellow inmate to the back of his head and body at HMP Moorland, on Bawtry Rd, at Hatfield Woodhouse, Hatfield, Doncaster, after mistakenly believing his victim had previously attacked him.

Prosecuting barrister Gurdial Singh said of the complainant: “He came out of his cell and felt a forceful impact to the side of his head. He was aware he was bleeding and felt pain to his back and thought he was struck to his right arm.”

Mr Singh added: “The officers saw what they thought was the defendant throwing a punch and then a further three times on the neck area and it was plain to them the officer had been stabbed.”

Jammeh discarded an object after the attack and it was later found to be a toilet brush handle wrapped in a bed sheet with a screw fixed to the top, according to Mr Singh.

The defendant, of no fixed abode, who has previous convictions, pleaded guilty to possessing an improvised weapon and to causing wounding with intent after the incident on November 28, 2020.

He also admitted three counts of possessing improvised weapons in prison after he disposed of a cutlery handle with a screw prior to a body scan at one prison in September, 2020, and after he had revealed he had two weapons when he was to be searched during a stay at Doncaster Young Offender Institution in August, 2021.

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The court also heard Jammeh’s previous convictions include battery, attempted robbery, robbery, possessing class A drugs with intent to supply, possessing a bladed article and possessing a handgun.

Victoria Smith-Swain, defending, said Jammeh had become paranoid after he had been stabbed multiple times when he was aged 15 and he was also attacked while in custody in August, 2018.

Ms Smith-Swain added: “Ever since these attacks he has been anxious and worried about further attacks upon him and he obtained weapons in prison because of the perceived threat.”

Jammeh had also believed the man he stabbed was one of the individuals who had attacked him in custody but he now acknowledges that is not the case and he apologises.

The judge – Recorder Felicity Davies – said the complainant had initially been approached by someone else asking if he knew anyone from HMP and YOI Doncaster, at Marsh Gate, before the defendant later attacked him as he made his way downstairs at HMP Moorland to a food servery.

Recorder Davies, who sentenced Jammeh to 30 months of custody, told him: “As he descended the stairs you came down and attacked him to his back – and there may be further blows – and the prison staff saw the incident but it was not until they saw you discard an item that they realised you had a weapon.”

She added: “The item you had used in the attack was a weapon improvised from a lavatory brush with a screw inserted in the end with fabric wound around it.

"It had the appearance of a spike and its overall length was some three or four inches.”