Teen guilty of 'frenzied' knife attack on sleeping woman
Police at the scene in Quinton Road, Needham Market, where a woman in her 30s was stabbed Picture: Mariam Ghaemi - Credit: Archant
A teenager who repeatedly stabbed a woman inside a Suffolk bungalow has been convicted of her attempted murder.
A jury returned a unanimous guilty verdict against Raekwon Jemmison at 4pm on Tuesday at Ipswich Crown Court.
The 18-year-old had been on trial for the attempted murder of Siobhan Phillips on October 19, 2019.
Jemmison, of Green Lane, Ilford, had denied stabbing Miss Phillips, then aged 29, in Quinton Road, Needham Market.
She was found badly hurt, with 15 individual wounds, in the driveway of a neighbour's home at about 6am that morning.
Police at the scene in Quinton Road, Needham Market Picture: Mariam Ghaemi - Credit: Archant
Prosecutor Andrew Thompson previously told jurors that, when asked who was responsible at the scene, Miss Phillips whispered 'SK' to a police officer – initials by which Jemmison was known.
Jemmison then took the stand to deny stabbing Miss Phillips when she refused to let him sell drugs from her property – instead claiming he was forced into accepting responsibility.
Most Read
- 1 Coleman on Cook: 'If that's indication of his fortune as Ipswich manager, they can book a place in the Championship'
- 2 Popular Woodbridge restaurant set to close
- 3 'Please don't believe everything you read in the media' - Ipswich Town owner Evans addresses takeover reports
- 4 'I have no doubt Ipswich will be successful' - Richardson doesn't rule out joining Cook at Town
- 5 Marcus Evans on Paul Cook: 'He has shown a great desire to become our next manager'
- 6 Ipswich case rate rises, other Suffolk districts among lowest in England
- 7 'The time is not right to fiddle when Rome burns' - Evans outlines Lambert 'disagreements'
- 8 Man taken to hospital with serious leg injuries following collision
- 9 Anger over loss of habitats after pond drained and trees felled
- 10 Stu says: Five observations following Ipswich Town's 2-1 win at Accrington Stanley
The court heard that Jemmison had come to Suffolk at the age of 16 to set up a county line and sell drugs.
Mr Thompson had previously said Miss Phillips told police she had met a man named 'SK' at the address of ex-partner, Perry, in Ipswich.
He said Miss Phillips, a drug user, recalled her ex-partner ordering her to smoke crack cocaine while held at knifepoint by SK.
Miss Phillips said she was again shown the knife the following day and told SK would be staying at her address to set up a drug line in Needham Market.
Mr Thompson said Miss Phillips and SK travelled by train that night to her address, where she awoke the following morning to find she was being stabbed, in what he called a "frenzied and sustained attack", by the man she knew as SK.
Jemmison told defence barrister Ryan Thompson that he was invited by Miss Phillips to sell drugs from her home, and claimed he left the bungalow and returned to London after she held a kitchen knife to his neck and beat him with a pillow.
Jemmison said he was later informed about the stabbing, and the early arrest of a man in his 50s, before being beaten up and threatened into "taking the rap".
Judge Emma Peters told Jemmison: "It will not come as a surprise to hear you will be losing your liberty for a considerable time."
Judge Peters adjourned sentencing and remanded Jemmison in custody until April 30 for the preparation of a report by the probation service.
