A young Zimbabwean man has been jailed 17 years after a ferocious gang attack. Tafadzwa Katsande, 21, was locked up after him and his gang...
A young Zimbabwean man has been jailed 17 years after a ferocious
gang attack. Tafadzwa Katsande, 21, was locked up after him and his gang
stabbed Marcus Quashie with machetes as he sat in the driver's seat of a car.
Leeds Crown Court heard the 23-year-old victim only
survived due to quick medical intervention and his injuries, including a
fractured spine, have changed his life.
Prosecutor John Elvidge QC said a number of phone calls
were made between a member of Katsande's gang and Garbutt shortly after 9.30pm
on on April 28 this year .
Minutes later, Katsande and three others went to meet
Garbutt at the junction of Smith's Avenue and Carr Street in Marsh while armed
with machetes.
Jurors were shown CCTV footage of Katsande, who the court
heard 'saw red', going over to Garbutt's associate Mr Quashie who was sitting
in a Citroën on the street. The court heard Katsande launched a 'ferocious'
attack on Mr Quashie, thrusting his machete at least 10 times through the
driver's window which had been smashed.
Mr Quashie's attackers fled the scene with their weapons
and he drove several feet up the street to his home before collapsing.
Katsande also attempted to hide forensic evidence and the
teenager discarded his blood-stained clothes close to his mother's house.
In a statement read to the court, the victim said: "I
honestly thought my time was up and I was going to die." He spent a week
in intensive care and had to undergo multiple surgeries.
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