![\"PA](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/3bc5\/live\/76f59180-6c60-11ef-bb13-858254fd6d28.jpg.webp\")
PA Media<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\nA man who fractured a woman’s kneecap with a bat in a “wholly unprovoked attack” has been given an 18 month sentence at Belfast Crown Court<\/b>.<\/p>\n James Stock, 39, from McMaster Street, was told he will spend a similar period on supervised licence on his release from custody.<\/p>\n Stock pleaded guilty on the first day of her trial on Friday to a charge of unlawfully and maliciously wounding his victim.<\/p>\n Sentencing, Judge Patricia Smyth said: “This was a sudden, wholly unprovoked assault without any motive.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n A prosecutor told the court that the victim was at her partner’s home in Templemore Avenue in east Belfast at around 20:00 on 2 March 2021 “when they heard banging on the front door and downstairs window and went to see what was happening”.<\/p>\n She said the victim opened the door and “saw two men, one of whom she recognised as being the defendant”.<\/p>\n “He came towards her and he pulled out what she described as a flick bat or baton and brought the weapon down hard on her left knee, causing her to fall to the ground” added the prosecution barrister.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Both men then fled the scene, the court was told, while the victim was taken to hospital where it was discovered that her kneecap had been broken by the baton.<\/p>\n The prosecutor added: “She required open knee surgery and remained in hospital for four days. She told me that the pain at the time of the assault was ‘excruciating’.”<\/p>\n Stock was arrested at his home where police recovered the baton, the court was told.<\/p>\n He denied being at the house where the attack took place during police interviews.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In a victim statement to the court, the woman stated the attack has had a “life-changing impact on both her and her family…I am in constant pain and my mobility is restricted. <\/p>\n “I suffer from anxiety when I hear a knock on the door, particularly at night or when I hear noises from the street outside”.<\/p>\n The court was told that Stock has 23 previous convictions which included one serious assault and a common assault. <\/p>\n A defence barrister said that at the time of the offence Stock was “in the midst of a chronic drug addiction” and that his life was “in a state of chaos”.<\/p>\n He was now taking steps to address his mental health and addiction issues, she said. The barrister also spoke of his remorse over the “one-strike” incident.<\/p>\n Since the assault to which he pleaded guilty on Friday, Stock has continued to offend, the court heard, and is currently the subject of a one month suspended sentence for possessing an article with a blade or point.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n‘Excruciating’<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
‘Life-changing’<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n