A MAN put his stepson in intensive care by stabbing him twice in the back with a kitchen knife in a "fit of temper" as he played video games.
But David Hughes, 58, claimed that the two wounds inflicted with a kitchen knife to the back of his partner's son, Michael Flanagan, had been accidental.
Ipswich Crown Court heard Mr Flanagan was sitting on a sofa of the home they shared in Harkilees Way, Braintree, when he was stabbed twice in the back, one wound being near his neck and the other close to his ribs on Saturday, September 14 last year.
Giving evidence, Mr Flanagan said that after Hughes returned home from a pub, he had exchanged words with him and had "lightly slapped" Hughes across the face then returned to playing the game. He denied threatening or assaulting him.
Mr Flanagan, 23, said he was unaware that Hughes had returned from the kitchen armed with a large kitchen knife until he felt pain in his back.
Jamie Brown, a cousin of Mr Flanagan, said he managed to restrain Hughes until the police and an ambulance crew arrived at the house.
As a result of the stabbing, Mr Flanagan spent nine days in intensive care because his wounds left him with breathing difficulties.
Prosecutor Claire Oldfield claimed that Hughes had carried out the attack in a "fit of temper".
She said there had been a history of problems between the two.
Miss Oldfield said that immediately after his arrest, Hughes admitted to police officers he stabbed Mr Flanagan because he was a bully and said he "couldn't take any more".
However, when interviewed by police the following day, Hughes retreated from that admission, saying that he had "flipped", but only intended to scare Mr Flanagan with the knife.
Hughes told the jury that he had never intended to cause any harm to Mr Flanagan.
He had picked up the knife only with the intention of frightening him, adding: "I never intended to harm him. It was accidental."
Hughes went on to claim that immediately before the incident, Mr Flanagan, his brother Christopher and Mr Brown had rushed at him and in the ensuing struggle the wounds were accidentally inflicted.
Following a five day trial at Ipswich Crown Court, Hughes was convicted on Tuesday of unlawful wounding.
He was found not guilty of an alternative charge of wounding with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm.
Jailing him for three years, Mr Recorder Martyn Levett told Hughes that the offence had been so serious that only an immediate prison term was appropriate.
Hughes was also ordered to pay a £120 victim surcharge.
Following the trial, the Chronicle tried to contact Mr Flanagan but he declined the opportunity to comment.
