A teenager has been locked up for stabbing another youth and puncturing his lung.
Richard Oliver, 18, was told by Chelmsford Crown Court Judge Rodger Hayward Smith QC there was no alternative sentence as he could have killed his victim.
The 16-year-old had a lock-knife thrust into him with such force it penetrated his chest and hit a lung.
His lung collapsed after the incident, outside a shop in Colchester, but hospital staff were able to repair the damage.
Oliver was sent to a young offenders' institution for 18 months, when he appeared in court for sentence.
He had denied but was convicted after a trial last month of unlawful wounding the teenager. Sentence had been adjourned for reports.
The trial heard how the teenager had been with a group of other young people outside the One Stop Shop, in Bromley Road, on July 4, when trouble flared.
As Oliver and a friend cycled past, words were exchanged and Oliver lost his temper and began attacking members of the group.
David Wilson, prosecuting, told the trial that Oliver, of Laburnam Grove, Colchester, grabbed one member of the group and tried to pull him over some railings.
Oliver then tried to hit his victim, who was heard a number of times to say he did not want to get involved in any fight, Mr Wilson said.
Oliver said he did not remember anything about a stabbing.
He said he had been punched and kicked by members of the group. He added that details were hazy as he said he had drunk six cans of lager.
Published Thursday April 8, 2004
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