Youth stabbed through terrified victim's door in cocaine-fuelled attack

Saturday 02 October 2021

A 20-year-old has been sentenced to youth detention after threatening to kill a man he was arguing with before repeatedly stabbing through the door of the bedroom where he was cowering in defence.

Daniel Du Feu’s cocaine and alcohol-fuelled attack left his terrified target bruised and with a cut on his arm from when he tried to retreat.

He was sentenced in the Royal Court on Friday, having pleaded guilty to grave and criminal assault and affray in June this year.

Following an argument and physical tussle in which Du Feu broke a bannister in the house they were in, the defendant ran to his room and grabbed a knife, causing the victim to think he was “coming for me”.

Pictured: Commissioner Sir Michael Birt oversaw the case, telling Du Feu that a non-custodial sentence could not be justified due to the seriousness of the offence.

The “scared” victim managed to run into another room in the house, and was shutting the door when Du Feu caught his left arm with the blade.

All the while, Du Feu was shouting that he was going to kill the man. 

As the victim held the door closed, Du Feu started pushing it and stabbing it with the knife, which he said came through the door eight to ten times.

The victim said he believed that if he had made it through the door, Du Feu would have killed him.

A pair in the hall with Du Feu said they saw him head-butting the door as well as stabbing it, with one of them later describing him as "so angry and going crazy."

The other said they had "never seen so much anger in someone's face before."

Du Feu then stopped head-butting and stabbing the door, and a man in the hall grabbed the hand in which Du Feu was wielding the knife.

The defendant managed to break free, ran to his room and threw the knife onto the bed, before leaving the house. The victim then called the police.

Du Feu was arrested shortly after, and interviewed under caution on the same day, explaining that he had an argument with the victim beforehand, which had resulted in the victim getting him into a headlock.

He added that he had been drunk and high on cocaine, and couldn't remember what he was saying as he stabbed the door, though did agree he was angry.

He said he knew he wasn't going to hurt the victim and just wanted to scare him.

Prosecuting, Crown Advocate Lauren Hallam said that, given the seriousness of the assault, the Crown considered only a custodial sentence appropriate, recommending two years of youth detention.

She said Du Feu arming himself with the knife was a "deliberate escalation of the incident", and that "the relatively minor nature of the injuries was more from luck than judgement."

She said that Du Feu's actions had left his victim struggling to sleep, still having "nightmares and flashbacks", and even considering moving off the island.

In Du Feu's defence, Advocate Francesca Pinel said that Du Feu disagreed with some of the victim's version of events, and claimed the victim had punched him a few times and caused him to fall into the bannisters before the attack.

She said that Du Feu understood that his behaviour was "disproportionate", but urged the court to recognise that the injuries caused "weren't serious" - although they could have been worse - and that Du Feu's force had been aimed at the door.

Advocate Pinel said Du Feu recognised that drugs and alcohol had contributed to the offence, and that he had described being sober since the start of his time in custody after his arrest as the "best thing ever".

On the basis of his youth and "troubled upbringing", as well as good character references, Advocate Pinel asked the court to sentence Du Feu for 15 months of community service, alongside an 18-month probation order.

Handing down Du Feu's sentence, Commissioner Sir Michael Birt - sitting with Jurats Rozanne Thomas and David Gareth Hughes - was clear that "the court has frequently said that severe sentences will be imposed for those who use a knife."

"The gravity of injury when a knife is used is so often a matter of chance, and there is always a risk of really serious injury if not worse," he added.

While he gave credit to Du Feu pleading guilty "almost immediately", and acknowledged his "very difficult background", he told him that the "ferocity in this attack was considerable", and that the "offending was so serious that a non-custodial sentence cannot be justified despite [his] youth."

Du Feu was sentenced to 21 months of youth detention for the grave and criminal assault, and 18 months of youth detention for the affray, both to be served concurrently, and the offending knife ordered for destruction.

A restraining order preventing Du Feu from having any contact with his victim was also imposed. 

Pictured top: Du Feu stabbed through the door of his terrified victim's bedroom multiple times while shouting. (Photo for illustrative purposes)