A 47-year-old man has been jailed for six years and three months after forcing his way into a Caerphilly home and going after a 15-year-old boy with a knife.
Matthew Richards, of St Cenydd Road in Trecenydd, admitted aggravated burglary. The judge ruled he should be deemed a dangerous offender and added a further year on extended licence.
The break-in
The court heard Richards turned up at a woman’s home on the morning of May 29 and got inside by kicking through the back door.
Armed with a knife, he then pursued her teenage son around the house.
Prosecutor Zoe Laugharne said Richards’ first swing at the boy missed. Two slashes did make contact, leaving the teenager with “superficial wounds” measuring four inches and one inch.
The boy dropped his phone, and Richards stamped on it.
The teenager managed to get out of the house, and his mother was able to call the police.
Police interview
When officers questioned him, Richards denied having a knife and claimed he and the boy had been grappling.
He told police he had been drunk at the time after drinking “vodka and lager”.
Previous convictions
Richards has seven previous convictions for nine offences. Five of them involved offences against a person.
Defence
Tabitha Walker, for Richards, told the court the attack was “out of character” for him, as he had not offended since 2015, 11 years earlier.
“He accepts what he did was wrong,” she said.
She said he had been drunk because he was using alcohol as a “coping mechanism” while “in the throes of grief” after a death in his family.
Ms Walker added that he had been working closely with Dyfodol in custody and was “motivated to change”.
Sentencing
Recorder Neil Owen-Casey told Richards the terror he must have caused the boy was “unimaginable”.
He said: “This is a very serious offence against a child with a knife.
“Whatever grief you were experiencing, this was simply beyond what is acceptable.
“It’s worrying that all your convictions in the main are for violence offences.
“I am satisfied you are an offender who should be deemed to be dangerous.”
Richards will serve six years and three months in prison, followed by a further one-year extended licence period.
