Friday, 8 February 2013

Strangers Slashed In Horrific Knife Attacks


Two men were left permanently scarred by a drink and drug-fuelled knifeman, who slashed them across the face - using a blade his friend hid in her bra for the second "utterly horrific" attack.

CCTV captured 27 year-old Dean Hughes "dancing about gleefully" as he celebrated the first Stanley knife slashing of a stranger, sparked by Lauren McTaggart, 23, (pic.top) shouting: "Fucking Romanians," at the victim and his friend.

Two hours later an innocent shop worker suffered a deep cut from his forehead to mouth after McTaggert produced the same blade from her cleavage and handed it to Hughes, (pic.bottom) who two days earlier had been bailed by magistrates on charges of assaulting and obstructing police.

Hughes, of Greenwood Street, Kilburn and McTaggart, of Hillside Avenue, Borehamwood both pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm, with intent, on store employee Mohamidi Aziz, 31, in Kilburn High Road in the early hours of April 12, last year.

Hughes alone pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm, with intent, on Albanian-born Elton Citric, 24, at 11.30pm on April 11 in Kilburn High Road and possessing the knife as an offensive weapon.

Sentencing him to twelve years imprisonment, Blackfriars Crown Court Judge Ian Karsten QC told Hughes: "You had been drinking too much and taken cocaine and were with McTaggart and another man and woman.

"Two innocent, decent people were walking towards you, making their way to the bus stop after finishing work at a restaurant.

"You slashed Mr. Citric with a Stanley knife for no reason at all and it left a nasty scar and he is going to have that for the rest of his life."

The victim suffered a 10cm-long wound to his right cheek and Hughes celebrated as he made his way to a bar across the street, where he swapped clothes with his friend and gave the knife to McTaggart.

"You can be seen dancing about gleefully, gloating about what you had done, showing with your hand how you slashed this man."

Two hours later the group walked into a twenty-four hour convenience store and quickly began making a nuisance of themselves.

"There was some kind of disturbance and the CCTV shows an utterly horrific series of events in which you ask McTaggart for the Stanley knife and she passes it to you from her bra and you slash Mr. Aziz, who was walking away from you at the time.

"You slashed him across his face even more extensively than you slashed Mr. Citric. You cut both eyelids of his left eye and he was extremely lucky he did not have his eye damaged.

"This was wanton, wicked and quite unforgivable and you caused huge damage to two individuals."

Jailing McTaggart for three-and-a-half years Judge Karsten told her: "You contributed to changing Mr. Aziz's life forever. You are fully responsible for joining the event that caused that very serious injury.

"You knew what he had done with that knife a couple of hours previously. It is a shocking thing that you did."

Her family had encouraged the first-time offender to emigrate to Australia alone because she had fallen in with a "bed crowd" but those plans are now in tatters due to the conviction and sentence.

Mr. Aziz told police: "I had my back to him and he smashed me on the side of the face. I panicked and tried to get some tissues, but the bleeding wouldn't stop.

"There was so much blood and I was scared and my eye hurt so much, but the doctor now tells me I should be able to see.

"They gave me a mirror to see my face and it made me feel sick. I am damaged forever, I am so sad I look like this."

The knife was found dumped in a bin behind a local shop, still stained with the victims's blood, and with traces of Hughes' DNA and some of McTaggart's hair on it.

A third defendant, Nicola Kutsaringus, 27, of Lemsford Court, Borehamwood pleaded guilty to threatening behaviour and was sentenced to four months imprisonment. No charges were brought against a 31 year-old man who was also arrested.

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