Chat room teenager stabs 43-year-old lover
An intergenerational relationship that started on the internet ended with a near-fatal stabbing, Carlisle Crown Court has heard.
19-year-old Artan Fana was sentenced to two years in jail for stabbing 43-year-old Mark Holden in February this year.
The Essex teenager had met Holden in an internet chat room and they spent many hours getting to know each other online.
Fana travelled 350 miles from his Dagenham home to meet Holden, on Valentines Day, and stayed with him for four days at his home in Kilnside, Cumbria.
Prosecuting counsel Mike Murray told the court that, “they slept in the same bed and had sexual contact,” according to the Times Star newspaper.
On the 18th February, after showering together, Holden went to the kitchen and made coffee.
He was met on the stairs by Fana, who stabbed his 43-year-old lover with an eight-inch carving knife.
Holden’s bowel and colon were penetrated in the attack, though he has subsequently made a full recovery.
Defence barrister Malcolm Dutchman-Smith offered little in the way of explanation for Fana’s attack on Holden.
He claimed there was some argument between the lovers, but did not give further details of the nature of the dispute.
“He is an immature young man struggling to come to terms with the reality of his sexuality,” he told the court.
The 19-year-old pleaded guilty to grevious bodily harm and last week was sentenced to two years in jail.