WOMAN JAILED FOR LINDLEY KNIFE ATTACK
A 21-YEAR-OLD woman who knifed her mum’s partner in the back during a family row has been jailed for three-and-a-half years.Caroline Kemp was at a house in Baker Street, Lindley, when she hit Andrew Wilkes with a piece of wood before arming herself with the knife from the kitchen and stabbing him in the back during the argument.
Prosecutor James Keeley told Bradford Crown Court the stabbing led to Mr Wilkes suffering a collapsed lung, but initially he had not realised that he was injured.
Mr Keeley said the knife narrowly missed other vital organs during the attack in April.
Kemp, of Raleigh Street, King Cross, Halifax, pleaded guilty in August to wounding Mr Wilkes with intent to do him grievous bodily harm.
Mr Wilkes told police that at the time of incident he felt a tap on the right hand side of his back.
Kemp had no relevant previous convictions and her lawyer, Neil Murphy, described the defendant as a vulnerable young lady.
He said she had stopped drinking and now accepts that what she did was wrong.
Recorder Michael Smith said it was clear from reports about Kemp that she had problems with alcohol and drug use.
But he said he had been genuinely moved by reading about her very difficult upbringing and chaotic lifestyle.
He told Kemp that if someone was stabbed in such circumstances it was in the lap of the gods as to whether the victim suffered relatively minor injury or they were killed.
“You could be facing a murder charge,’’ he told Kemp.
“Doing the best I can for your plea of guilty and your background I fear it still has to be a substantial period of custody.” He urged Kemp to take up the offers of help and assistance.
