Jessie Henry, from Chatham, faces jail for knife attack on Lewis Dilallo in East Street, Gillingham
Published: 08:00, 17 November 2017
A teenage thug who repeatedly stabbed another youth in the garden of his house is facing years behind bars.
The attack happened in the same street where another teenager, Kyle Yule, 17, was fatally stabbed on the doorstep of his home in alleged gang wars between Chatham and Gillingham youths.
Wearing a bandana over his mouth, Jessie Henry knifed Lewis Dilallo, 17, in East Street, Gillingham, on July 30 this year.
Henry, 18, then told two masked friends as he waved the weapon around: “We got him good now and he isn’t going to run his mouth any more.”
Maidstone Crown Court heard Lewis’ mother, Nicola Ritchie, came out of her terraced house to see the attack happening.
She managed to pull her bleeding son inside and called an ambulance.
The mum-of-two said she had recognised Henry from making threats outside Medway Magistrates’ Court.
“He said he would shank (stab) me up in front of my mum,” she told the jury. “My son told me his name. He stabbed my son.”
Mrs Ritchie said Henry used a Stanley knife on her son.
“He was stabbing my son’s back,” she said. “I pulled them apart. I was trying to pull Lewis back from him.
“I wanted to split them up and get him inside. I was able to take him inside. The male got up and jumped over my wall and ran up the road.”
Mrs Ritchie said Lewis lay on the sofa and told her: “He stabbed me.”
“I think he was shocked more than anything,” she added. “He was panicking. I saw a massive hole in his back. He was bleeding a lot.”
She later picked Henry out of an identification procedure.“
"He was panicking. I saw a massive hole in his back. He was bleeding a lot" - Nicola Ritchie
Lewis, who refused to cooperate with police or support the prosecution, was treated for superficial wounds to his right wrist, stomach, left upper arm, lower back, left shoulder blade and just below the left armpit.
When police searched Henry’s home the next day they seized his mobile phone and found pictures of him in a variety of poses.
One text message to him said: “I hear you whacked him up.” Henry replied: “Ye.”
Officers also found two black and white bandanas. CCTV footage showed three suspects leaving the scene.
Henry, of Chamberlain Road, Chatham, denied wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, but was convicted.
He did not give evidence but when interviewed by police he said: “I wasn’t there. No comment.”
He claimed he was at Medway Hospital on the day of the attack being treated for a fracture to his left wrist.
But checks showed he was not at the hospital that day. He had attended three days before.
Prosecutor Ben Irwin said the teenager had a conviction for possessing an offensive weapon, arising out of an incident in April when he chased a man down a street while brandishing a Samurai sword.
He also had convictions for possessing cannabis and assaulting a paramedic.
Remanding him in custody until sentence on December 21, Judge Adele Williams said: “I will have to have a pre-sentence report on the risk he poses for the future.”
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