Drug dealer found not guilty over Chichester stabbing

A man from Chichester has been found not guilty of wounding with intent following a man's stabbing.

Samuel Morgan, 20, of Adelaide Road, was cleared of the more serious charge today following a trial, but had admitted unlawful wounding.

During the trial he admitted assaulting Simon Wilmot with two other men in a park in Chichester after falsely arranging to meet him to sell him drugs.

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But he denied knowing that his step-brother, Brandon Attwater, had a knife and planned to stab Mr Wilmot in Oaklands Park on April 19, 2015.

Attwater pleaded guilty to the stabbing at an earlier hearing, and he and Morgan are due to be sentenced at Hove Crown Court on Friday.

Morgan will also be sentenced for admitting possession of a knife in a public place in a separate incident 11-months later in Chichester, on March 11, 2016.

Addressing Morgan after the jury delivered its verdict on Wednesday, December 14, judge Christine Laing QC said: “For this offence, and for possessing a knife (in a separate case) there is no alternative therefore but an immediate custodial sentence.”

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On Monday the court heard a statement from Mr Wilmot, the victim, read out by prosecutor Christopher Prior, in which he said he had gone to the park to buy £10 of cannabis from Morgan.

CCTV footage showed Morgan, Attwater and another man knocking him off his bicycle with punches and kicks, before Morgan cycled off on his bike.

The court was told that Mr Wilmot managed to stagger back to his accommodation, and didn’t realise he had been stabbed before he received two text messages from Morgan.

“The message said ‘ha ha you think you robbed my man’”, Mr Prior said. “I replied ‘enjoy the tenner’ and he (Morgan) then replied ‘enjoy the knife’.

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“It was only then I pulled my top up and saw that my underwear was covered in blood.”

He found a 2cm wound to his right abdomen which ‘scared me to death’. He underwent surgery and was in intensive care for three days and in hospital for eight days.

Mr Wilmot said in his statement he had not known why he was attacked.

Giving evidence in court on Monday, Morgan repeatedly denied knowing his step-brother was carrying a knife or planned to use it.

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Morgan said: “We were just going to beat him up cos Brandon told me he had robbed him.”

When asked: “Did you mean to cause him really serious harm?” Morgan replied: “No, just give him a few punches and kicks.”

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