A violent thug who snapped and stabbed a friend after he made sexual comments about a 14-year-old girl was last week jailed for six-and-a-half years.
At the High Court in Glasgow 36-year-old William McMillan, from Motherwell, admitted assaulting Paul Rafferty to the danger of his life.
McMillan was originally charged with attempted murder, but his plea to the reduced charge was accepted.
The attack took place at Allan Tower, Motherwell, on November 3, last year.
Rafferty, McMillan and another friend Brendan Cadden had gone to see Craig Robson in Allan Tower. Rafferty claimed Mr Robson owed him money.
During the visit it emerged that Rafferty had allegedly threatened to rape a teenage girl. McMillan reacted to this by producing a knife and slashing Rafferty. The knife was taken off him by Mr Cadden.
But McMilllan demanded the knife back and then used it to stab Mr Rafferty.
Prosecutor William Frain-Bell said: “The accused produced a knife and began to repeatedly slash Mr Rafferty on the face with it.
“Then as Mr Rafferty headed for the front door of the flat he could feel blows to his back as he was repeatedly stabbed by the accused.”
Mr Rafferty managed to get out of the tower block and down the stairs and made his way to a nearby petrol station, where staff called police and an ambulance.
Police were able to follow a trial of blood to the flat where the attack took place. There there found McMillan and the knife he had used to attack Mr Rafferty.
Mr Frain-Bell added: “The argument between Mr Rafferty and the accused appeared to be about Mr Rafferty making remarks of a sexual nature about a 14-year-old girl.”
The court heard that others in the flat who heard the comments were enraged by them
Mr Rafferty was admitted to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow suffering from an injury to his left kidney and his face. He is permanently scarred.
McMillan has previous convictions for assault to severe injury and assault and robbery.
Solicitor advocate Rhonda Anderson said: “Mr McMillan’s position is that the complainer threatened to rape a 14-year-old girl. This angered him so much he attacked him with a knife.”
McMillan was sentenced by judge Lord Arthurson, who told him he had an appalling record.
