Armed attacker who repeatedly stabbed man with screwdriver outside Dundee shop jailed

An armed attacker has been jailed for more than seven years after repeatedly stabbing a man with a screwdriver.

Ryan Paul, 27, wounded his victim with the weapon in a murder bid after a confrontation at a shop in Dundee despite attempts to disarm him.

A judge imposed a ten-year extended sentence on Paul after he earlier admitted attempting to murder the victim by repeatedly striking him on the body with the screwdriver on June 28 last year at Huntly Square, resulting in his severe injury, permanent disfigurement and the danger to his life.

Lord Scott sentenced Paul to seven years and one month’s imprisonment and ordered that he should be under supervision for a further two years and 11 months, during which he will be on licence and can be returned to jail if he breaches its conditions.

The judge told him he would have faced a jail sentence of nine and a half years for the offence, but for his guilty plea.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard that Paul and the victim were known to each other, and the victim previously had a brief relationship with a former partner of the attacker.

On the day of the attack, the victim was at the Premier Store in Huntly Square and was going down an aisle when Paul shouted at him, and an argument began.

Both men left the premises, and the victim tried to calm the situation by asking Paul to put everything in the past, but he responded: “You’re getting stabbed.”

The man realised that Paul had a screwdriver and went back into the shop, but was told to leave.

Advocate depute Jennifer Nicholson-White said: “The complainer opened the door of the shop and attempted to grab hold of the accused to protect himself from being struck with the screwdriver.

“However, the accused managed to break free from the complainer’s hold and stabbed the complainer with the screwdriver.”

The victim tried to back into the shop, but Paul came up behind him and repeatedly stabbed him before leaving the area.

The wounded man was taken to Dundee’s Ninewells Hospital, where he was found to have sustained four stab wounds to his chest, abdomen and left arm and a collapsed lung.

Defence counsel Kevin Jarvis said it was not Paul’s intention to carry out an attack that day, and the meeting between the two men was “a chance encounter”.

The judge, who was shown CCTV footage of the incident, made a non harassment order prohibiting Paul from contacting or attempting to contact the victim.