A drug dealer has been imprisoned with a 12-inch knife through his body to expose his victim’s intestines for a meager £30 cannabis debt. Devante Sheridon asked the victim, “Do you want me to rob you?” Before “overreacting” and stabbing a drug buyer with a “huge” knife.
Despite the victim seeking medical help, the 18-year-old brutally left the man “bleeding” and fled the scene. The terrified victim was deeply traumatized, and now I have a vivid memory of the blade piercing his body.
The Wolverhampton Court heard how the victim owed Sheridon £30 for cannabis he had previously purchased from Sheridon. However, the victim did not have a mobile phone, so the defendant emailed her sister asking for money.
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The man was cycling through the Brockwich neighborhood of Walsall on the evening of December 28 last year when he spotted Sheridon at Cresswell Crescent. The victim told the drug dealer, “Sorry, I don’t have your money. I’m not going to rob you.”
Sheridon replied, “You want me to rob you? I’ll mess you up.”The man put his bicycle on the floor and “prepared for defense,” prosecutors said. Rachel Pennington Said.
Sheridon then pulled from his waistband a large black knife, 12 inches long and 3 inches wide. As the man tried to flee, he ran toward the victim with a knife and begged the assailant not to stab him.
The victim fell on the grass and was stabbed in the abdomen by the defendant. Thinking he was going to die, he called for help, but Sheridon fled without calling an ambulance.
Police were called and the victim was taken to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham for emergency surgery. “Part of the intestine was exposed from the stab wound,” Pennington said.
Officers arrested Sheridon at his home and searched his home. They found two mobile phones, a scale, a cannabis crusher and two small bags of Class B drugs.
The weapon used to stabb the victim was never recovered, the court said. In a statement, the victim said he believed he was going to die and now “constantly” thinks of people with knives in the streets.
He feels “extremely paranoid” and suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. “I’m still reliving the impact of being near death in an ambulance with a knife stuck in my body,” Pennington added.
“He’s scared that death is haunting him. He doesn’t understand why others perceive him as a threat. He’s shocked that it escalated to the point of being stabbed. If there was a fight, he would understand.”
Defense attorney James Kumar described the attack as an “overreaction” and said it happened “in the heat of the moment.” It was neither intentional nor premeditated, but Sheridon “panicked” and rushed from the scene without calling 999.
The inmate, who has no criminal record and wants a job as a railroad maintenance worker, said he “admits what he did was wrong.” Kumar went on to say Sheridon had a “sad childhood” with an ill mother and an absent father, adding that “this was an impulsive reaction.”
Sentencing officer Hussein said Sheridon left the victim “bleeding” after striking him with a “huge” knife. She added, “You essentially accepted the deal.
“You were selling cannabis for financial gain. It seems to me that you took the business of street trading quite seriously.”
Sheridon admitted on December 28, 2018, that he had caused the injury with intent to cause serious bodily harm and that he possessed an assault weapon. He also admitted he had concerns about cannabis supplies between January 1 and December 28 last year.
The defendant, who lives on Avondale Drive, Shrewsbury, was sentenced to just over three years in prison and was given a five-year restraining order.
