TWO men wielding weapons who burst into an Oxford house and stabbed one of the occupants have been jailed for a total of 13 years.
Orlando Shedden and Amin Hirabe were part of a group of men carrying a metal pole, bars, a golf club and a knife as they smashed their way into the property in Shelley Road, East Oxford.
The pair, who were wearing hoods and scarves over their faces, had been convicted by jurors of aggravated burglary and were sentenced at Oxford Crown Court yesterday.
A third suspect, Ellington Mafereka, has never been traced.
Recorder Simon Cooper said: “You went to the house of Ashton Walls at 7.30pm on December 27, 2009.
“You were in a group of males who were carrying a metal pole, bars, a golf club and, crucially, a knife.
“You wore hooded tops and scarves to conceal your faces and you broke down the door of her bedroom and have attacked her boyfriend Ryan Parkinson.
“One of your number stabbed him in the lower back and shouted ‘I’ve got him’ and then left.
“This was a planned attack.”
Recorder Cooper said Miss Walls was struck over the head with a weapon as the gang left the property.
Shedden, 30, of Salesian Gardens, Cowley, was identified by Miss Walls while the footprint of Hirabe, 24, from Iffley Road, was found at the scene.
Sophie Murray, defending Hirabe, said her client, who has previous convictions for robbery and blackmail, came to Britain as a Somali refugee.
She said: “He’s a young man who through coming to this country being an asylum seeker felt the need to belong.
He committed these offences through misplaced loyalty.”
Edward Boateng Addo, defending Shedden, said his client came to Britain from Jamaica in 2006 and would be deported as a result of this offence, leaving behind his partner, their two children and their unborn child.
He said: “No words can describe the regret Mr Shedden has for his actions and the effect his imprisonment will have on his children and his long-term partner.”
Hirabe was jailed for seven years and Shedden for six.
Recorder Cooper said: “The effect on the people in that house was horrendous.”
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