A teenager was left with part of his bowel protruding after a sustained knife attack in a city park by a man who claimed he had earlier been attacked himself, a court has heard.

Norwich Evening News: The park off Peterson Road, Norwich.The park off Peterson Road, Norwich. (Image: Archant)

The victim, who was just 16 at the time, had been at Peterson Park, in Mile Cross, when he was attacked with a knife by Kai West.

Norwich Crown Court heard the victim suffered stab wounds to his chest, stomach and even back as he tried to escape.

Stephen Spence, prosecuting, said: “It was a sustained attack to vulnerable parts of the body which could’ve had potentially fatal consequences.”

The victim sustained injuries to his liver while part of his bowel “had to be put back in” by hospital staff, the court heard.

Mr Spence said he suffered “multiple stab wounds to multiple parts of the body” which in themselves were not life threatening but could have been given the multiple injuries he suffered.

The victim spent four to five days in hospital recovering from the attack, which West said happened following an earlier assault on him.

Mr Spence said the crown did not accept that the incident was anything to do with the victim. He said: “It would seem having been assaulted by someone else and having received a broken nose, the defendant armed himself with a knife and went out and stabbed [the victim] a number of times.”

West, 23, formerly of George Pope Road, Norwich, appeared in court on Wednesday (April 1) over videolink for sentence having previously admitted wounding with intent and having a bladed article on November 2 last year.

Sentencing him to a total of nine years, Judge Anthony Bate told West he had two previous convictions for violent offences but said this marked a “very substantial escalation”.

The judge, who conducted the hearing over Skype to allow others to join the proceedings despite the court being closed due to the coronavirus outbreak, said the victim suffered a “constellation of serious injuries”, adding it showed how trivial incidents could escalate through the use of a knife resulting in serious or even fatal injuries.

David Wilson, mitigating, said West accepted his culpability by offering a plea before it reached trial and urged the sentence be kept as short as it could.