'Too many people of this city are too afraid of venturing out at night and avoid the city centre because someone carrying a knife will hurt them or worse'

JUDGE SAYS VICTIM STABBED IN HEART ONLY SURVIVED DUE 'TO BRILLIANCE OF SURGEONS'

- By MARTIN NAYLOR

A JUDGE said Nottingham had been “stained” by the attacks of 2023 and that the city lives in fear of more knife violence as he jailed another man for a stabbing.

Mohammed Ahmed-Altey left the life of a promising young footballer “hanging in the balance” after he was stabbed in the chest while out celebrating his 17th birthday in Nottingham city centre.

Nottingham Crown Court heard how Ahmed-Altey’s victim was kept alive at hospital for two weeks having been left in a coma after the knife he used in the street attack “penetrated one of the four chambers” of his heart.

The teenager collapsed to the ground and the defendant fled from the scene, made no attempt to contact the emergency services and disposed of the blade, which has never been found.

Judge Michael Auty KC said: “There has to be a strong element of deterrent because the character of this city has been indelibly stained by the actions of another on June 13, 2023 [Valdo Calocane], and has left people in fear.

“Too many people of this city are too afraid of venturing out at night and avoid the city centre because someone carrying a knife will hurt them or worse. No one should be forced to live like that.”

In a victim impact statement, the teen’s mother told how the impact of the assault on the 23-year-old, of Radford, and how the whole family “struggled to go out in the city centre” and to see the location where he was assaulted.

Now he will be spending the next 15 years behind bars to reflect on his criminal actions.

The judge said: “His life was saved by the brilliance of the surgeons and it was nothing short of miraculous that he survived at all.