A 21-year-old man has told how he almost died after being stabbed in the FACE by the jealous boyfriend of a girl who had been sending him saucy text messages.
Troy Watts was left looking like “Frankenstein’s monster” after Caine Jackson, 20, slashed him from his throat to his ear with a 10-inch blade on September 21 last year.
A court heard the two young men had met and become friends in 2012 and used to go out as a foursome with their respective girlfriends.
But last summer Jackson’s partner Jordanne Bontoft, 18, began sending explicit text messages to Troy, suggesting they should have sex behind her boyfriend’s back
Troy ignored the come-on’s and informed his girlfriend Katie Barratt, 19, who then confronted Jordanne about the flirty messages.
Jordanne eventually came clean and told her boyfriend about the texts, but Jackson became angry and accused her of sleeping with Troy.
He then stormed around Katie’s house in Rugby, Warks., armed with a carving knife and attacked the painter and decorator while he was sat in his car.
The raging thug stabbed Troy in the head and arm while shouting “talking to my girl” before leaving him lying in a pool of blood.
His horrified girlfriend dialled 999 and Troy was rushed to hospital where he required stitches to his wounds to his face and left arm.
He has been left with a five-inch scar stretching from his ear to his chin and suffered muscular damage, which means he cannot smile properly.
Jackson handed himself in to police the day after the attack and was charged with wounding with intent to cause GBH.
Last Friday (24/4) Jackson, from Rugby, was jailed for eight years as Warwick Crown Court.
Troy said he thought he was going to die after being attacked by his former friend.
He said: “I know I did the right thing in telling my girlfriend when I started getting these messages off his girl implying we have sex.
“She was saying we should meet up alone and stuff.
“Separately, she had told my girlfriend she wanted to cheat on Caine, we just didn’t know she meant with me.
“I never expected to him to react like he did. I feared for my life, I was sure I was going to die.”
“You would if someone came up behind you, opened a car door, and started using a knife.
“I was sitting in the car talking to a mate and then he was just there, it was quite quick but I can remember it clearly. It was horrific.
“Our mums knew each other and so did our girlfriends. We went out on a double date once, all four of us.
“I don’t like people going to jail. Eight years is a long time for one stupid act.
“I think there are other ways you can deal with people rather than just making them sit around for eight years.
“But if he had done it to someone I love like my girlfriend or my family then it would be different, I would want him to pay.
“He left me looking like Frankenstein’s monster – but it could have been a lot worse.”
The court heard Troy had not encouraged the text messages and had acted “perfectly properly” by telling his girlfriend about them.
Judge Richard Griffith-Jones said: “Watts, a handsome young man, had not invited these texts and told his girlfriend straight away.
“He had behaved perfectly properly.
“A scar, though very unpleasant for a young man, is not going to be as debilitating as a facial weakness which gives a distortion of his appearance.
“I very much hope something can be done about that.”
Sentencing Jackson, the judge added: “You pleaded guilty to this at the first opportunity, and you will receive full credit for that.
“That said, this is a very grave offence.
“The first thing you should hold in mind is your good fortune, because if you had caused the death of Mr Watts you would have been guilty of murder.
“This would not have been a case of manslaughter. You would have had a life sentence.
“Once you take a carving knife and use it in the vicious and sustained way you did, striking at potentially vulnerable areas, it becomes a matter of chance whether you kill him or not.
“You have admitted taking a carving knife and using it because you were angry about rumours that your girlfriend was having a sexual relationship with him.
“In reality he was not, but you did not give him an opportunity to deny it. You just attacked him.”
