Man stabbed in Bradford in an early morning attack

Prosecutor Danielle Gilmour told Bradford Crown Court that Dion Davis-Gregoire donned a mask and dark clothing and used a kitchen knife to wound a workmate at the end of a night shift on September 26, 2022, as he walked to a bus stop.

The attack, which left the victim needing surgery for a gaping wound on his hand, was witnessed by other workers who attempted to help.

Court hears how the incident unfolded 

The court heard that the two men worked together at a Bradford warehouse. Agency worker Davis-Gregoire had made comments about the other man and was confronted by him at a bus stop following the end of their shift on September 23, 2022.

Miss Gilmour said 21-year-old Davis-Gregoire “got annoyed and responded with his fists”, punching the victim during a short fight. As he got on the bus Davis-Gregoire threatened to stab the other man.

Three nights later he failed to show up for work. As the victim finished his shift at 5am and was walking along behind his colleagues he heard someone behind him.

He was approached by a man wearing a balaclava and dark clothing and holding a knife who ran at him shouting and waving the weapon.

The victim used a bag he was carrying to defend himself and deflect the knife. He grabbed the blade and the two of them wrestled on the ground. During the struggle he suffered deep cuts to one hand and to the outside of the other.

He managed to get the knife away from David-Gregoire who then broke free and ran away.

Victim was left permanently scarred 

Witnesses shouted out to try and stop the incident. Two said they recognised Davis-Gregoire as the attacker. They said the victim was bleeding heavily from “a gaping wound” on his hand.

Police recovered the knife at the scene. Paramedics took the victim to hospital where had surgery on his hand. He was left permanently scarred.

Davis-Gregoire was identified very quickly and arrested at home at Hawkshead Walk, Little Horton, around an hour later. During an interview, he answered “no comment” to questions and refused to be body-mapped for any injuries.

He pleaded guilty on the first day of his trial.

Miss Gilmour said: “There was a clear degree of planning and pre-meditation by the defendant not attending at work but then going to the bus stop that he knew [the victim] would be at after his shift in the middle of the night. He also used a highly dangerous weapon that he took to the scene.”

The case was heard at Bradford Crown Court (Image: Newsquest)

She said the attack “appeared to be intended as a warning or a threat”.

Mitigating, Aubrey Sampson said it was “a very childish and immature act in picking up the knife to scare the victim” and had been committed when Davis-Gregoire was just 19.

He added: “The injury caused was as a result, understandably, of the victim believing that he was going to be stabbed and quite rightly grabbing the knife. The defendant fully accepts causing that injury and fully accepts that there is no excuse.”

'This could have ended in fatal circumstances'

Having regard for his immaturity, difficulties in his childhood and lack of previous convictions, Her Honour Judge Sophie McKone said he had “just” avoided an immediate jail term.

She said: “You made a conscious effort to arm yourself with a knife and go looking for him in the street clearly when you were very angry with him. That cocktail could have ended in fatal circumstances.

“Even if you didn’t have any intention to harm him and you just wanted to scare him, taking a knife onto the street and going up to somebody is incredibly dangerous.

“I sentence you on the basis that you armed yourself with a knife to scare him rather than harm him.”

She handed Davis-Gregoire a 12-month prison sentence suspended for two years and imposed a 7pm to 7am curfew for six months.

He was ordered to carry out 250 hours of unpaid work and to undertake 25 rehabilitation activity requirement days.

She ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the knife.