A 19-year-old man has been found guilty of injuring two friends in a horror knife attack at a flat last summer.
One of Leon Dowbenko's victims allegedly 'passed away' on the way to hospital and only survived after undergoing an emergency operation in the back of an ambulance.
Dowbenko, from Bradford, was cleared of three attempted murder allegations that arose from the attack, but the jury at Bradford Crown Court rejected the defence of insanity at the end of a four-day trial
During the trial they heard expert psychiatric evidence about his mental state.
Yorkshire Live reports that on August 19, after more than five hours of deliberation, the jury found Dowbenko guilty of two charges of wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm in relation to the attacks on aspiring actor Taylor Wells, 23, and his 20-year-old friend Jake Oldfield, at a flat.
Dowbenko was also convicted of attempted wounding with intent in respect of their friend 21-year-old Olivia Pentelow.
Aspiring actor Mr Wells said: "My heart stopped, that’s what the doctor told me.
"He said I was dead in the back of the ambulance."
"They had called the air ambulance but before it could land I had gone.
"So the paramedic - I am trying to find out who she is - decided she needed to work now. I had been stabbed in the heart and blood was pouring in."
Taylor's only memory for the next two days is a hazy recollection of his legs flailing around in the back of the ambulance as he shouted, "please stop".
"I cried then and I've cried quite a few times since," he said.
"That first night I was so high on morphine, the air conditioning was blowing the ICU curtain and I thought it looked like a hand reaching towards me."
It was only when he woke up in hospital that he found out his two friends had survived.
Remarkably, Taylor only spent a few days in hospital receiving treatment for stab wounds to the heart and lung, before he was fit enough to be cared for by his parents at their home.
He said it was only when he woke in the hospital that he found out his two friends had survived.
He said his dreams of a career as an actor and a model may have been dashed by the scars he now has on his torso.
After the jury returned their guilty verdicts yesterday Judge Jonathan Rose explained that Dowbenko, who is currently detained in a hospital unit, could face a life sentence or extended sentence, a hospital order or a hybrid of the two types of custodial sentence.
“All of those options are on the table,” said the judge who remanded Dowbenko back into custody until his sentence hearing on November 22.
The judge ordered a psychiatric assessment of Dowbenko and said he also wanted victim impact statements.
“It is very important I understand, particularly in the case of Mr Wells and Mr Oldfield, the ongoing consequences of this attack,” said the judge.
Judge Rose thanked the jury for their work on a complex and difficult case and said he needed the reports to make the right decision for the defendant, the victims of his crimes and the public.
“Mr Dowbenko the jury have found you guilty of three exceptionally serious offences. Offences for which a life sentence of imprisonment could be imposed,” said the judge.
“It is likely you are going to be detained for a very long period of time.”
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