A drug dealer who smashed a man on the head and severed a vein in his neck with a bottle after trying to sell the victim narcotics was jailed today.
Noel Austin, 36, of Lagos Close, Hulme, admitted causing grievous bodily harm at an earlier hearing and was sentenced to ten years and nine months after the attack on Sunday May 12.
At around 4am, the 27-year-old victim was on King Street West with friends having just left a nearby nightclub when Austin approached them offering them drugs.
Austin became enraged when they refused the drugs and cited his dislike for ‘the guy with the brown shoes’.
However a short time later the victim and his friends were talking to a taxi driver when Austin approached and was heard to say: “I hate this guy with the brown shoes and I will knock him down now.”
He then picked up a glass Budweiser bottle and hit the victim so hard over the back of the head that it smashed and slashed a vein in the victim’s neck, causing heavy blood loss.
Detective Constable Adam Cronshaw, from Bootle Street Police Station, said: “This was a particularly nasty and unprovoked assault on the victim and if the ambulance crew hadn’t been on the scene so quickly it is no exaggeration to say it could have been fatal.”
After the attack, Austin ran off and was chased by the taxi driver, first in his car and then on foot along Bridge Street, John Dalton Street and towards King Street, where the driver lost sight of him.
The injured victim also tried to run after Austin but collapsed outside Deansgate due to his injury. He was treated at the scene by paramedics and rushed to hospital for treatment to a severed vein in his neck.
Austin was later spotted one week later at around 5.30am on Sunday May 19 when the taxi driver saw Austin on Wilmslow Road and identified him.
He then followed him while passing information on to the investigating detective, DC Cronshaw, who in turn relayed this information to response officers who made the arrest.
Detective Constable Adam Cronshaw, from Bootle Street Police Station, said: “I would like to thank the brave and public spirited actions of the taxi driver for helping us catch the offender.
“He is a real credit to the community and will be receiving an award from our Divisional Commander in recognition of this.”
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