The victim said ‘I genuinely thought I was going to die during this incident’
Harley Mitchell admitted an offence of causing grievous bodily harm with intent to the victim and possessing a knife(Image: Humberside Police)
A violent teenager who viciously stabbed a terrified friend in the stomach with a knife – causing him to lose a lot of blood and need two blood transfusions – has been locked up after being branded a “dangerous” offender. The victim thought that he was going to die after the horrific attack and he needed urgent surgery for his “life threatening” injuries, Hull Crown Court heard.
Cocaine user Harley Mitchell, 18, of Buckingham Street, east Hull, but recently in custody on remand, admitted an offence of causing grievous bodily harm with intent to the victim and possessing a knife on October 26. He also admitted a separate offence of affray on August 28.
Benjamin Donnell, prosecuting, said that Mitchell was snorting lines of cocaine before pulling a long, thin kitchen knife, inside a makeshift sheath, out of a bag. He bragged about prison and said: “I am bringing this out. If anything happens tonight, I’m killing some f****r.”
Mitchell was told by others not to be stupid. He and another young man went into Hull city centre for a night out with friends. The other man left before Mitchell and went to a friend’s house, arriving at 1.30am.
Mitchell went into the house with the rest of the group 30 or 40 minutes later. They carried on drinking and Mitchell had further lines of cocaine. He later took the knife out from the bag and began to play with it.
Mitchell pestered the young man about placing a food order for him but the friend said that he was too drunk. Mitchell poked him twice on the leg with the knife, causing a small amount of blood.
The friend became sick of this behaviour, stood up and raised his voice to Mitchell, saying that he should order his own food. Mitchell stood up and began waving the knife towards the friend, who backed away towards a wall.
Mitchell backed him against the wall, punched him in the face once and forcefully stabbed him once in the stomach area. The blade penetrated six inches into his bowel area.
“The defendant grabbed his possessions and fled the party,” said Mr Donnell. The victim was bleeding from his mouth.
An ambulance was called and the victim was taken to hospital. He needed an operation. He had six puncture wounds and tissue damage in the small intestine.
There was bleeding from muscles at the back of the abdominal cavity. The holes were closed and blood was removed. The victim lost 1,800ml of blood and he needed two blood transfusions.
He later said that he had no idea why Mitchell did what he did. “I genuinely thought I was going to die during this incident,” he said. The victim suffered “life threatening” injuries.
Mitchell was found in Buckingham Street and he was arrested. He had the “highly dangerous” knife with him.
In a separate incident, Mitchell behaved aggressively towards two girls and brandished a hammer in a car park near the St Stephen’s shopping centre area, Hull, late at night. The incident was seen on CCTV and the girls looked scared.
Mitchell had convictions for 36 previous offences, 11 of them involving assaults, between 2022 and 2024. He had convictions for making threats with an offensive weapon and assault causing actual bodily harm.
Jazmine Lee, mitigating, said that it was serious offending and Mitchell seriously over-reacted during the knife incident. The knife attack was a very serious assault and it left the victim in a very bad way indeed.
“Drugs and alcohol were at play here,” said Miss Lee. “Drug use has been an issue for this defendant. He had been clean before these offences. He had fallen off the wagon.
“He is clean now. He does express regret for his actions. There is a pattern of violence. He has shown some signs of improvement. He is using his time wisely in custody.”
Judge John Thackray KC said of the stabbing attack: “You stabbed him in the stomach with a lot of force. This could have been so easily a murder case.
“These courts deal with cases just like this where the person dies. As it was, this was a life-threatening injury and your victim required urgent, immediate surgery.
“He lost a lot of blood and it’s left him feeling very scared to go out on his own. He thought he was going to die. He must have been terrified. He has made a full recovery.”
Mitchell was sent to a young offenders’ institution for six years after being assessed as being a dangerous offender who posed a very high risk of causing serious harm to others. The Parole Board would decide when it was safe to release him. He will be on extended licence of four years after his release from custody.
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