A man stabbed his mum’s partner in the back with a Swiss Army knife in what an Oxford judge branded a ‘nasty and vicious attack’.

But Recorder John Hardy QC decided not to hand Aaron Joines an immediate prison sentence – after hearing he’d already served the equivalent of a 26 month sentence on remand and had organised himself a place at a residential drug rehab.

Imposing a two year jail term suspended for two years, he told the 34-year-old: “You know very well the view that I took of you during the course of your trial.

“You committed a nasty, unprovoked and vicious attack out of malice upon a vulnerable gentleman who your mother was the carer for.

“In sentencing you as I do now, I accept that the underlying cause of your offending and indeed the underlying cause of the personal traits which make you somewhat anti-social is class A drugs and I am delighted that you have managed to wean yourself off [heroin substitute] methadone whilst you have been on remand. That is a significant achievement.”

Mitigating, Christopher Pembridge said his client had stopped taking even methadone while on remand at HMP Bullingdon. He had organised himself a place at a residential drug rehabilitation in Devon.

Joines, of Oxford Road, Banbury, was found guilty at Oxford Crown Court in the summer of wounding his mother’s then partner.

Jurors heard how the victim and his partner had returned home on November 2, 2020, to find Joines emerge from the house in Rochester Way, Twyford.

He grabbed the man by the throat, telling him: “I want to have words with you.” The victim asked him to calm down.

When Joines released his grip, allowing the victim to turn back, Joines stabbed him with what prosecutors believed to have been a Swiss Army knife.

The victim was left with a 1cm wound, which was scanned at the hospital over fears – which turned out to be unfounded – that he may have suffered more significant internal injuries.

In a victim personal statement summarised to the court by prosecutor Kellie Enever, the man said: “My entire life has been ruined by Aaron.”

The court heard on Monday morning that Joines would be collected from the court cells by police officers and driven to the drug rehabilitation facility in Devon.

Recorder Hardy imposed a 12 month drug rehabilitation requirement, meaning the probation service can bring the case back to court if the defendant breaches the order.

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