Man knifed in back , court told

  

SHOCKED shoppers saw a man plunge a knife into another man's back in Bury St Edmunds' town centre, a court has heard.

Nicholas Reed was walking to McDonalds when he was approached by two men before one punched him in the face, Ipswich Crown Court was told.

As Mr Reed turned to walk away he was allegedly stabbed in the lower back by the second man, 29-year-old Samuel Doran, said Hugh Vass prosecuting.

Fearing further attack Mr Reed staggered into a nearby shop and staff tried to stem the flow of blood from the wound while they waited for an ambulance to arrive.

Doran, of Wells Close, Ipswich faces a charge of wounding Mr Reed with intent to cause him grievous bodily harm on November 23 last year.

Doran is not in court for his trial and the case will be heard in his absence.

Mr Reed told the court on the day in question he had gone into Bury town centre to pay some bills. He stopped on the Cornhill to talk to a friend who was with a group of people, including Doran.

While there Mr Reed had been subjected to verbal abuse by a woman who knew his wife and spat in his face.

The woman wrongly accused him of being a police informer and shortly afterwards another woman approached him and warned him that he was likely to get hurt if he didn't leave the area.

Mr Reed walked towards McDonalds when Doran and another man allegedly ran after him. Mr Reed claimed that Doran held a knife to his face and said: “Is it true?”

“I didn't know what he was talking about,” said Mr Reed.

He knocked the knife away from his face and was then punched in the face by the man with Doran.

Mr Reed turned to walk away and then felt a pain in his lower back.

He told the court that he suffered from chronic hepatitis and the knife attack had damaged his “good” kidney which had not been adversely affected by the hepatitis.

He said he had not made a full recovery from his injury and was under the care of several specialists.

The trial continues today