Two brothers and a third man were jailed yesterday for an attack which left their victim with multiple stab wounds.
Daniel Kelly, 33, Brian Kelly, 26, and 22-year-old Kyle Donaghy were each handed a 26-month sentence after all three admitted a charge of wounding.
Belfast Crown Court heard the injured party sustained around 10 stab wounds, one which punctured his lung, in the attack on Laganbank Road in Belfast city centre on August 22, 2018.
Since the incident, the injured party refused to co-operate with police.
Judge David McFarland said he accepted the events leading to the stabbing were chaotic, and it seemed likely the victim was the aggressor who ended up being attacked with his own knife.
Before he sent the men to jail, Judge McFarland was told by Crown prosecutor Philip Henry that just before the stabbing there had been an altercation between two groups of people at the St John’s Close apartment block in East Belfast.
One of the trio lived there at the time and after entering the building there was a confrontation between them and a crowd attending a party in the building.
Daniel Kelly, from Elgin Street, Brian Kelly from Connsbrook Avenue, and Donaghy of Beit Street, all Belfast, will have their sentences divided between 13 months in prison followed by 13 months on licence.
