Teenager sentenced to 12 years for slashing two men with a knife in Chester

A 19-year-old man has been sentenced to 12 years in a young offenders institute after using a knife to slash the faces of two 23-year- old men.

Ramon Baruwa, of no fixed address was found guilty at an earlier hearing of two counts of wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm and had pleaded guilty to possession of an offensive weapon.

He was sentenced at Chester Crown Court on 4 October.

The court heard that on the evening of 18 April 2019 one of the victims was walking along Foregate Street, Chester with his partner and friend when they saw a group of high school age children in an altercation with Baruwa. The group shouted that he had a knife and ran off.

Baruwa was seen on CCTV to chase after someone and go past the two victims. He stopped and assaulted one victim and then turned on the other. Baruwa the fled the scene.

DC Andy Manson said: “These two men were in the wrong place at the wrong time and ended up being quite seriously injured by Baruwa. This could have been much worse and highlights that consequences of carrying a knife in public.

“This sentence shows how seriously the courts take knife crime so if you know someone who carries a knife, contact police to help us prevent serious assaults such as this.”