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A much more serious incident was averted only because the blade of a meat cleaver, used in an assault, was blunt.
Guersey’s Royal Court heard how Ryan James Williams had waved the knife in another man’s face, but the victim was able to grab it – only cutting his finger, because the weapon was “pretty blunt.”
Judge Russell Finch told Williams the cleaver was “fortunately quite blunt” and that the situation could have been much more dangerous otherwise.
He also said it was a “violent attack” with a “potentially deadly weapon” after hearing the evidence against Williams.
Judge Finch and the Jurats then jailed him for four years for the assault and two other charges of possession of a weapon and criminal damage.
Pictured: Guernsey's Royal Court, where Ryan James Williams was sentenced.
Williams committed the offences on 17 July, 2018, when he went to the home of his male victim. He wanted to see a woman, who he believed to be having a relationship with the man. The male victim opened the door to find Williams holding a bottle of alcohol.
When he was told he couldn't see the woman, Williams responded by attacking the man with the cleaver.
The victim told Guernsey Police that he was “fighting for his life” as he tried to get Williams to back off. He grabbed the blade to stop it cutting his face, causing relatively minor injuries to his hand.
Williams left the scene and was later arrested in town, where he tried to disguise who he was by giving police officers a false name and speaking in a foreign accent.
The male victim has suffered since the assault, and has received counselling to come to terms with what he had faced on that day.
The court heard how Williams himself had also struggled to come to terms with what had happened, with his defence lawyer telling the court that he feels “the time he has spent in prison has made me realise how bad it was.”
Advocate Sam Steele said Williams had told him he was upset at the thought of having to go to the UK which meant he would not be able to see his family in Guernsey. He accepted he turned up at the victim’s door but denied he had the knife for that reason.
He said he had been at a hog-roast with a friend, and the knife was for that. The friend no longer lives in Guernsey and couldn’t be reached to confirm this.
Williams said he was returning the cleaver when he instead went to the male victim’s home address.
Pictured: Williams said he was returning the cleaver after attending a hog-roast with a friend, when he instead went to his victim's home (file image).
Advocate Steele said his client had admitted his guilt at the earliest opportunity and accepted it was a serious offence.
“He was not ‘caught red handed’” said Advocate Steele who asked the court to give his client credit for his guilty pleas.
Advocate Steele said it was an assault, not an attempted murder but he conceded the weapon made it into a serious assault.
Advocate Steel said Williams had a number of character references and was described as “loving”, “caring” and “kind hearted” and that he was “deeply remourseful”.
Judge Finch accepted that and said Williams had an “almost clean record” but said it was a “violent attack” with a “potentially deadly weapon”, the likes of which are “not welcome in Guernsey” and so he was sentenced with a “deterrent element” in mind.
Judge Finch accepted Williams was at a “medium risk of reoffending” but said “a person who takes a meat cleaver and uses it deserves little sympathy from the court.”
This kind of incident is rare in Guernsey he said, “and must remain so.”
“You only have yourself to blame”, Judge Finch told Williams as he jailed him for four years, with effect from the date of his arrest in July.
Pictured: Ryan James Williams.
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