Man jailed for unprovoked screwdriver attack in broad daylight on busy road – The Irish News

This is the north Belfast man who was sentenced to four years in prison for carrying out an unprovoked screwdriver attack in broad daylight on a busy road.

Patrick Deeney attacked Jamie Clarke and then stabbed him at least five times in the garden of a house in Skegoneill Avenue in the north of the city. He was sentenced to eight years in prison, four of which were suspended.

Deeney (27) has 68 previous convictions and was serving a three-year prison sentence for an earlier knife attack that was initially investigated as attempted murder. He was sentenced to one year in prison, two of which were suspended.

Mr Clarke described how he was standing outside a shop near a bus stop early one evening in April last year when he was attacked.

“He came from behind so I ran into the garden and that’s where I was stabbed. He stabbed me in the back and stabbed me in the head. I think there were five in total,” Mr Clarke said.

The 31-year-old believes he lost consciousness at some point, but remembers being in the ambulance. He remembers a sheet that was “completely pink” and the color of blood.

Mr Clarke believes the attack on him had a sectarian background, claiming his attacker shouted: “I hope you die, you orange bastard.” He was wearing a Rangers shirt.

Deeney’s long criminal record includes 28 charges and subsequent convictions after he was convicted of the previous stabbing.

He was only 21 when he stabbed a man four times outside a block of flats in north Belfast. He also attacked the man’s 17-year-old girlfriend, dragging her to the ground by her hair, among other things.

In the attack outside Queen Victoria Gardens, the victim was stabbed three times in the body and once in the head. He suffered a punctured lung and the head wound required staples.

After the stabbing, Deeney returned to the party at the flat where he changed. He was arrested as he came out of the back of the flat. A blood-stained knife was later found. He pleaded guilty to assault, assaulting the man’s girlfriend and possession of a knife.

While in custody for the attack, Deeney was allowed to leave prison to attend the funeral of his brother Fergal, who died of a heroin overdose in August 2018. He was one of 15 people to die of an overdose in just two months.