Norwich student lucky to be alive after car park knife attack

Jehovany Palata: PIC: Submitted by Norfolk police (Image: Archant)

The 26-year old University of East Anglia (UEA) student has physically recovered from potentially life-threatening injuries he sustained following an incident in the Rose Lane car park during which he bravely intervened to protect a friend.

Detective Constable Craig Leeder said the student was 'extremely lucky' to have survived and has issued a warning to others about the danger of carrying knives.

He said: 'The victim was extremely lucky. His injury was potentially life threatening - a stab wound into the chest cavity that perforated the diaphragm just below his lung.

'But that's what happens when people carry knives. The victim has physically recovered from his injuries. He's made a recovery and is getting on with his life and his studies.'

Details of the attack have emerged after Jehovany Palata, 20, of Temple Road, Norwich, was sentenced to five and a half years detention after admitting wounding with intent.

Det Con Leeder said prior to the attack an altercation had taken place between Palata and a friend of the victim's in Mojos nightclub on Prince of Wales Road.

Det Con Leeder said it had been an 'innocuous' incident which amounted to them having bumped into each other.

But about 45 minutes later Palata spotted the man with a couple of friends, including the victim, in Rose Lane and 'chased them into the car park where he produced a knife'

The victim, who had never seen Palata before, bravely got himself in between the defendant and his friend but was stabbed twice - in the forearm and in his abdomen.

Police officers were quickly on scene to help give the victim first aid before the ambulance service arrived to take him to the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital where his condition was described as stable.

Det Con Leeder said: 'This incident could have easily led to the death of a young man who had merely been out socialising with friends.

'The sentence should serve as a warning to those who routinely carry knives, that Norfolk Police and the courts will deal robustly with such offences.'

He added: 'The victim had no idea who Palata was and had never seen him until that night. He was a complete stranger to him.

'I'm sure he has got some comfort from the fact we've successfully prosecuted someone and someone has been brought someone to justice for it.'

Palata was initially charged with attempted murder following the attack at about 3.30am on June 28 last year but pleaded guilty to wounding with intent on the first day of his trial at Ipswich Crown Court last month.

The prosecution offered no evidence on the attempted murder charge.

It is not the first time the Rose Lane car park has been the backdrop for violence.

Honorato Christovao, 54, of Parmentergate Court, Norwich, died four days after sustaining serious head injuries in the city's Rose Lane car park in the early hours of February 10 2011.

In March 2012 London drug dealers, Anton St Paul, 22, and Spencer Yiadom, 22, were jailed for 23 and 24 years respectively for murder following a trial at Norwich Crown Court.

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