A Dundee knifeman who took a blade to the face of a man who attacked him in a city close has been jailed.
Gary Finnie was set upon in a Dura Street close but went well beyond self-defence when he knifed his attacker.
Darren Petrie was left with a two-inch cut to his right cheek which needed seven paper stitches and a tetanus injection.
Finnie responded violently after being attacked by Mr Petrie who told him: “You got my mate the jail.”
Lat year, Finnie hit headlines when he was jailed for chopping off his partner’s hair while she slept, calling her Rapunzel.
Knife assault
Finnie, 39, was brought from HMP Perth to Dundee Sheriff Court where he pled guilty to assaulting Mr Petrie just after 1.30am on August 25 last year.
He admitted, at the block of flats in Dura Street, he left him severely injured and permanently disfigured by striking him on the head with a bladed article.
Prosecutor Stephanie Paterson explained Mr Petrie had spent the day before frequenting pubs in Dundee city centre.
He returned to Dura Street and after a few minutes encountered Finnie in the common close.
Mr Petrie was heard to say: “You got my mate the jail” before taking hold of Finnie.
He pushed him against a wall, grabbed him by the throat and punched him twice.
Finnie broke free and struck his attacker on the face with a bladed item before running off.
Police attended and found Mr Petrie had a two-inch cut on his right cheek.
Officers found blood in the close and on his doorframe.
Mr Petrie was taken to Ninewells, while police recovered a bag Finnie had left behind containing a piece of paper with his name on it.
Provoked
Solicitor Gary Foulis said: “There is significant provocation.
“His actions were proportionate to start with.”
Sheriff Gregor Murray jailed Finnie for 16 months, backdated to September, and granted forfeiture of the knife.
He said: “Any person who takes a knife and causes injury using that knife is almost certainly going to jail.
“You are no different… there was a significant degree of provocation.”
‘Rapunzel’ lout
Last summer, Finnie was jailed for a campaign of domestic abuse which included cutting off his partner’s ponytail and striking her legs with broken glass.
Finnie called the woman ‘Rapunzel’ and cut her hair while she slept.
The woman, who had “quite long hair”, woke to find “most of her hair was gone”.
Finnie cut it while she was asleep and his terrorised partner had to make up a story to her family about wanting a new look because she did not want them to know what the brute had done.
On another occasion he got drunk, smashed a mirror over his head and began slashing her with a shard.
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