A man who attacked a woman with a garden fork at a debauched Dundee house party has been jailed for 20 months.
John Phinn was warned if had he used the “business end” of the tool to assault his victim, he would have been facing much longer behind bars.
Phinn stood trial at Forfar Sheriff Court accused of severely injuring and permanently disfiguring his victim at a flat in Court Street North in Dundee.
After less than an hour, a jury of nine men and six women found the HMP Perth inmate guilty, but acting under provocation.
Woman given tetanus booster after attack
Phinn pled not guilty to a charge that alleged on October 1 last year, he brandished a knife at the woman, seized her by the hair, pushed her on the head, repeatedly punched her on the head and and repeatedly struck her on the head with a garden fork.
He claimed his actions, which left her severely injured and permanently disfigured, were self-defence.
The court heard paramedics arrived at the flat, where cocaine had been taken, shortly after 2.30am.
They found the assault victim with a laceration on her forehead and another cut and bruising to the back of her head.
Both wounds were bleeding “significantly.”
She also suffered bruising to the left side of her abdomen and swelling on her right forearm.
A doctor at Ninewells closed both cuts with sutures and gave her a tetanus booster.
The medic also identified she had suffered a nasal fracture.
‘Lamentable’ criminal history
After the jury convicted Phinn, 48, his solicitor Gary Foulis asked for a time-served sentence to be imposed.
He explained his client – who maintains his innocence – has been on remand and has served the equivalent of a 20-month sentence.
In 2022, Phinn was jailed for three years after he and an accomplice robbed a vulnerable Dundee woman in her own home.
Sheriff Mungo Bovey said: “It’s a pretty lamentable record.
“With some hesitancy, I am prepared to impose a 20-month sentence on you.
“Notwithstanding your record, the main reason I am prepared to do that is because I accept your evidence that you struck Ms Stewart with the handle of the garden fork.
“Things would have been much more serious had you used what you might call the business end.
“You’re at an age where drug users don’t survive very long. It’s clearly a matter for you whether you can address that or not.”
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