A former Leicester man on trial for attempted murder has claimed in court that he did not aim to kill the person he stabbed multiple times outside a nightclub. The accused, Connor Page, told Nottingham Crown Court that he “wanted to hurt” 25-year-old Skye Severn.
Page, aged 27, stated that he “made a conscious decision” to stab Mr Severn, whom he described as a stranger, after taking a knife from another person who had produced it. Page, who is originally from Leicester but now lives in Metcalfe Close, Alvaston, Derbyshire, denies a charge of attempting to murder Mr Severn, from Bilborough, in Nottinghamshire, but has confessed to the lesser offence of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
Defence lawyer Steve Cobley asked Page: “When you stabbed Skye Severn, did you intend to kill him? ” Page responded: “No.” Mr Cobley further inquired: “At the point that you had the knife in your hand, what were you thinking? ” Page answered: “I was still angry about the situation between me and Skye Severn. We were tussling or fighting or whatever you want to call it, and I wanted to hurt him.”
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Mr Cobley said: “We have all heard the word ‘intent’. Was your intention to hurt him? ” Page replied, “Yes, my intention was to hurt him”, reports Derbyshire Live.
Lastly, Mr Cobley asked: “How do you feel about what you did? ” Page replied: “It should not have happened. What I did was not justified. I am obviously sorry to Skye Severn and – I assume that is his family [in the public gallery]? I am sorry.”
The trial, which commenced at the beginning of the week but experienced a two-day hiatus due to unrelated issues at the court, has shed light on the events surrounding the stabbing. The altercation occurred outside the I-Club, formerly known as the Irish Social Club, in Wilford Street, Nottingham, at approximately 4am on June 23 last year.
It is alleged that Page and Mr Severn had been inside the club before the confrontation unfolded in the street. The incident began when Mr Severn challenged Page about his behavior towards a woman, the court has heard.
CCTV footage and mobile phone recordings show the two men engaging in a physical altercation, during which Page stabbed Mr Severn multiple times in the body and once in the head with a knife. According to Page, the knife was initially produced by someone else, and he claimed to have sustained injuries to his fingers while grabbing it.
The tip of the knife became lodged in the victim’s skull, and required surgical removal. Phone footage presented to the jury revealed a sizable crowd witnessing the assault, with one woman heard screaming: “He’s stabbing him, he’s stabbing him”.
During cross-examination, prosecutor Alex Wolfson said to Page: “Something happened that made you repeatedly stab someone you did not know.” Page responded affirmatively.
The prosecutor asked: “Did you ‘lose it’ or did you make a conscious decision to start stabbing?” Page acknowledged making a deliberate choice to initiate the stabbing.
Mr Wolfson asked: “At what point in that clip [of footage], do you say, you did not intend to kill him? ” In response, Page said: “I understand it looks bad, I understand I was stabbing him, but I did not intend for him to die or to kill him.”
The trial is ongoing.