A ‘DANGEROUS’ attacker has been jailed for stabbing a dog walker in the head with a pair of scissors so violently that her head was sliced open and her skull exposed.
Joshua Kettle armed himself with the knife after passers-by tried to intervene in an argument he was having with his brother near the war memorial in St Paul’s Road Newton Abbot.
He kicked and punched one bystander before lunging at the woman, who suffered a deep two inch gash on her temple that left the bone underneath exposed and needed five stitches to close.
His behaviour was so alarming that one witness described him to police as ‘the crazy man’.
Kettle was homeless and had aggravated pre-existing mental health conditions by drinking alcohol and taking drugs which led him to act violently and unpredictability.
He had been sectioned under the Mental Health Act two months before but released from the Langdon Hospital and was living on the streets in Newton Abbot, where he had previously lived.
He went on to assault a police officer at the custody suite the next day by spitting at them, Exeter Crown Court was told.
Kettle, 29, previously of Sandringham Road, Newton Abbot, but now of no fixed address, denied but was found guilty of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, possession of a bladed article, affray and assaulting an emergency worker at a trial last month at Exeter Crown Court.
He also admitted assault causing actual bodily harm and two other assaults on emergency workers.
He was jailed for five and a half years with a two year extended licence by Recorder Ms Chloe Pawson-Pounds.
She classified him as a dangerous offender and told him: ‘You have a not insignificant record of violence and this marks an escalation in seriousness. You have assaulted individuals without provocation while using weapon, having armed yourself on three occasions.
‘Your attitude towards your mental health and understanding of how it causes your offending behaviour is unrealistic and that is a cause for concern. Mercifully, you haven’t caused more serious injury so far.’
During the trial, the jury heard Kettle got into a violent argument with his brother near the War Memorial on the evening of February 5 and then confronted dog walkers and pedestrians who tried to intervene.
He punched one man and left him with a broken tooth and extensive bruising and then stabbed the female victim, with a pair of scissors which police recovered at the scene.
He went on to threaten others who confronted him before police arrived and arrested him. He was said to be very agitated at the time.
One independent witness who tried to calm the situation described Kettle to police as ‘the crazy man’.
Miss Felicity Payne, defending, said Kettle’s history of mental health problems reduced his culpability. He had been released from a spell at Langdon Hospital in Dawlish shortly before these offences and had problems accessing medication.