Drunken pair wielding machete and knife bring terror in street attack
A machete and knife wielding duo who brought terror in an unprovoked street attack have each been given 23 months in a Young Offenders Institution.
Brad James and Corie Alwill were waiting for a taxi after leaving a birthday party in Willenhall Street, Darlaston, when they were confronted by Callum Austin at 10.30pm on February 23 last year, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.
They were startled by the drunk’s claim they had stolen his cocaine and told him they had not taken anything while he kept mumbling “where’s my gram, give me my gram,” said Mr Oliver Woolhouse, prosecuting.
The defendant then walked into the flat block next door where he lived.
But he emerged soon afterwards with his drinking buddy Lewis Swinburne – they had each allegedly downed a bottle of vodka – who pulled a two foot machete from his jogging bottoms and started waving it about, it was said.
Weapon
Austin was also armed with a six-inch bladed knife which he held to the throat of Brad James who pushed him away but the defendant drew the weapon across the stomach of the victim, cutting through his coat to leave a minor cut on his body, it was said.
Swinburne then punched Mr James in the face as Austin threatened Mr Alwill with the knife as the incident came to an end.
Mr Christopher O’Gorman, representing 20-year-old Austin conceded: “He thought he had dropped a gram of cocaine but his behaviour was quite appalling.”
Mr David Swinnerton, defending Swinburne, said the 19-year-old had been a heavy drinker since the age of 13.
But he said he had kicked the habit since this incident and was now a team leader in a freight warehouse.
Austin, from Willenhall Street, Darlaston, admitted assault and two offences of threatening a person with a bladed article.
Swinburne, of Yorkshire Grove, Leamore, Walsall, was convicted of threatening two people with a blade but pleaded guilty to assault.
Judge Barry Berlin, at Wolverhampton Crown Court told the two defendants: “This was unprovoked street violence while drunk and drugged and armed with knives.
“It was a bullying attack that could have had far more serious consequences."
