Man stabbed step-father six times in unprovoked garden attack

John Martin Vasquez inflicted six wounds upon 74-year-old Daniel Crowley.

Initially the complainant believed Vasquez, aged 45, was “merely punching him”.

After a relative intervened, Mr Crowley fled inside his property and locked himself in a bathroom.

He realised he was bleeding and he had a “knife sticking out of his stomach”. He was taken to hospital and treated for four wounds to his chest and two to his arm, all of which were soft tissue injuries only.

Vasquez, of no fixed abode, appeared for sentencing at Bournemouth Crown Court on Friday, February 18, having pleaded guilty to unlawful wounding with intent.

The court heard in the weeks before the incident the defendant had been hearing voices and experiencing disassociation. Doctors concluded the mental and behaviour disorder was due to the consumption of alcohol.

Judge Jonathan Fuller QC jailed Vasquez for three years and four months.

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John Martin Vasquez

Prosecuting, Alec Williams said the defendant was living with his mother and step-father temporarily when the attack took place at the address in Salisbury Road, Boscombe, on July 24 last year.

Vasquez and Mr Crowley were both in the garden and after a brief period of small talk they were sat in silence.

Mr Williams said the complainant described that it was “clear to him Mr Vasquez is drunk and he left the conversation there not wanting to upset Mr Vasquez”.

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“The two sat quietly together outside,” said the prosecutor. “There was no conversation.

“Mr Vasquez gets up, walks towards the victim and stands over him.”

He added: “Without any provocation whatsoever Mr Vasquez attacks Mr Crowley. He strikes him. He describes it as strikes. ‘He struck me multiple times. I didn’t know how many – between four and six times’.”

The defendant remained at the scene after the attack and at the time of his arrest he was sitting on a bench in the garden.

Mitigating, John Dyer said his client wished to express his “genuine remorse for what happened”, adding “no one deserves that”.

The defendant said he was not in “my right frame of mind” in the weeks prior to the attack and during the incident itself.

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Mr Dyer told the court since being remanded in custody the defendant had undergone a great deal of “reflection” and “remarkable” support he was receiving from the staff at HMP Winchester had led to him no longer hearing voices.

Judge Fuller QC said the alcohol consumed by the defendant led to his mental state and therefore it could not be considered as something that reduced his culpability.

“A severe depressive episode but it all comes from alcohol,” the judge said.

Judge Fuller QC said he took into account Vasquez’s guilty plea and the remorse he had expressed to the court.

He said: “There was a vulnerable 74-year-old man sitting on his lounger in the back garden of his home trusting that you were a family member and certainly of no harm to him.”

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