Three men who took part in a machete attack which left their victim’s arm “hanging off” were on Tuesday, June 29, 2021, sentenced to a total of 47 years.
Micah Stoute, 25, Grant Melia, 41, and David Walpole, 41, were driven to Houghton Regis, Beds to attack the man, who had earlier told Walpole not to shout abuse in the street.
The victim was chased into an alleyway where Stoute, who went by the nickname “H”, used a Zombie knife to strike him across his arm.
When he was asked what happened, he told a woman: “Put it this way, his arm was hanging off.”
Peter Shaw, prosecuting, told Luton Crown Court that the victim said: “I truly thought I was going to die. “I turned around and saw a male with a machete in front of me. I thought: ‘He is going to kill me.“
He said he believed a first aid trained friend, who was at the scene, saved his life by stemming the blood flow after the attack, which happened in Hammersmith Gardens, Houghton Regis at around half past six in the evening on Thursday, May 7, 2020.
In a victim personal statement, the man said: “I still can’t use my left arm and I use crutches. I have been told my position will not improve. I suffer flashbacks and nightmares.”
He went on: “I feel so angry about what these people did. The surgeons told me I died twice. To say these events torment and haunt me would be an understatement.”
Stoute, of Garter Court, Knightsfield, Luton, was found guilty of causing GBH with intent and a second charge of having a machete. Melia, of Southwood Road, Dunstable and Walpole, of Recreation Road, Houghton Regis, were also convicted of causing GBH with intent.
Stoute had three convictions for five offences. Melia had 24 convictions for 37 offences and Walpole had 21 convictions for 56 offences. For Walpole, Minal Raj said he had not brought the knife to the scene.
She said he had suffered drug addiction. She said he has enhanced privileges for good behaviour on remand in prison.
John Lloyd-Richards for Melia said he was recruited part-way through and, although he was holding a glass bottle, he had not used it.
“There was no evidence he had a dispute with the victim,” he said. For Stoute, Jollyon Robertson said: “He is young man. He has no convictions for violence.“
He said the offence was a single blow. Recorder David Bridge said the attack followed an earlier argument in which Walpole said he would “come back with my boys” after the victim had said he should not have been shouting abuse in the street.
He said Melia went to Hammersmith Gardens looking for a fight. A witness heard him say: “Whose fighting?”
The judge said Stoute, who was a heavy cannabis user at the time, had been capable of “chilling acts of violence.”
He said the victim was unknown to him and had done nothing wrong to him. He jailed Walpole for 14 years and an extended sentence of four years.
Melia was sentenced to 12 years jail with a three year extended sentence. Stoute received an 11 year jail sentence with a three year extended sentence.
