Youth gets six months for stabbing elderly man in the face

Aggression and violence towards an elderly man he suspected of having a relationship with his mother, was the reason Shane Williams gave for stabbing Augustus Matthew in the face in 2013.
Justice Iain Morley sentenced the man to six months in prison for unlawfully wounding the then 62-year-old man on February 17, 2013. Williams admitted he stabbed his mother’s friend in the cheek and again in the shoulder as the elderly man fled from the attack.
Matthew, who took the stand at Williams’ sentencing, said he was unsure why the then 21-year-old attacked him, and though he could not fully forgive his attacker, he did not want to see the young man go to jail.
“It would look sorrowful on my part. Me and the mother are still friends, I still go by the yard. I was there up to [recently] and since the incident he was not aggressive with me,” Matthew told the judge.
The now 66 year old said that he would often go to the home and even call the woman on the phone, when the youth told him, on two occasions, not to call his mother because she had a man, and if he persisted he would chop him up.
On the night of the attack, the victim said he went to the home and knocked on the door, when a “figure” opened it. Matthew said he felt a blade across his right cheek and when he ran to the gate, the attack continued. It was not until the fourth stab that he heard a familiar voice and looked up to see Williams.
The 24-year-old convict apologised to his victim and told Matthew that he now understood how easy it is to get into trouble and that he hoped they could move on from the incident.
The convict’s attorney Michael Archibald said his client was not raised by his mother and he is very jealous if she gives anyone else her attention.
“It was a nasty attack, unprovoked … and Mr Matthew said he does not feel threatened though he still goes to the yard regularly. This is a ‘live and let live’ circumstance. I get that the intention was not to be fatal but certainly being stabbed in the face is certainly unpleasant,” the judge said.
Williams was set free having already spent seven months in prison awaiting trial.