Sheffield Crown Court: Smiling face of thug jailed for stabbing man in the bottom in Sheffield park

Defendants Tony Cain, Leon Moore and Lee South were brought before Sheffield Crown Court to be sentenced on March 4 this year, following the assault on November 6, 2019.

Prosecuting barrister, Ian West, described how in the moments leading up to the assault, the three defendants and the complainant had been spending time at South’s flat in Darnall.

Mr West said there had previously been an altercation between the complainant and South, during which the complainant ‘punched’ South, but he considered it to be ‘water under the bridge’ by the time he visited South’s flat.

South is Cain’s older brother, and the court heard how the pair left the flat, along with Moore and the complainant, to go to a convenience store to top up an electricity card for South's flat.

Mr West said that on the way to the convenience store, Moore made a comment about knives being used to ‘slash people’.

After visiting the convenience store, the group of four began walking back towards South’s flat, and the complainant was a little ahead of the three defendants as they made their way through a park.

“Without warning he [the complainant] feels himself being grabbed from behind and being thrown to the floor, and as soon as he was on the floor he describes being set upon,” Mr West said.

The court was told the attack was carried out by the three defendants, all of whom were involved in kicking and punching the complainant as he was on the floor.

Mr West said that the complainant felt a ‘sharp pain’ to his bottom, and realised he had been stabbed.

He tried to get to his feet, but fell back to the floor, at which point the three defendants continued with the attack.

Cain, Moore and South left a short time later, and a member of the public came to the aid of the complainant.

The complainant suffered two stab wounds to his right buttock in the attack.

He subsequently declined to provide an update on his condition or a victim personal statement to the court.

Cain, 20, of Emerson Crescent, Parson Cross, carried out the stabbing and brought the knife to the scene.

He was charged with wounding, which he pleaded guilty to at an earlier hearing.

Moore, 21, of Haunchwood Road, Nuneaton and South, 22, of Scraith Wood Drive, Shirecliffe, Sheffield, were initially charged with wounding, but the Crown Prosecution Service accepted their guilty pleas to the lesser charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm following their assertion they were not involved in the stabbing and had no knowledge of the knife.

Dermot Hughes, defending Cain, said he was only 18 when the offence was carried out, and described him as someone who was trying to ‘put the pieces of his life back together’ following this incident and his ‘terrible childhood’.

Defending South, Kathryn Pitters, said his involvement in the incident was ‘borne out of sheer immaturity’ and his first appearance at Crown Court had been ‘terrifying’.

Errol Ballentyne, defending Moore, said his client was homeless at the time of the incident and was staying with South, and ‘hadn’t expected what happened to happen’.

Recorder Ian Mullarkey described the assault as ‘prolonged’ and said it had a ‘degree of pre-meditation’ to it.

He jailed Cain for 20 months and sentenced South and Moore to six months in prison, suspended for two years, and ordered them to complete 100 hours of unpaid work and a 25-day rehabilitation activity requirement.

*South Yorkshire Police have been asked to provide a custody image of Cain