On 9 November 2005, a woman was stabbed and a man slashed in Swindon.

On 28 October 2005, This is Wiltshire reported thus:

"Robert Karanja tried to murder Stacey Deacon, a jury has decided.

The 26-year-old from St Mary's Grove in Gorse Hill, Swindon was convicted yesterday at Bristol Crown Court.

He was also found guilty of two charges of wounding with intent and of assault by beating…

Karanja plunged a kitchen knife twice into Stacey Deacon's stomach as she stood with friends outside Swindon train station on Tuesday, November 9 last year. Her friend, Martin Croke, 25, was slashed across his left arm by Karanja.

The defendant had punched a third victim, Victoria Pike, in her face.

It was alleged during the trial at Bristol Crown Court that Mr Croke and Miss Pike had launched a racist attack on Karanja earlier that evening near Whitehouse bridge.

Miss Deacon had not been present at the fracas which was said to have prompted Karanja to seek revenge by hunting the group down with a kitchen knife he collected from his house…

Martin Croke still shudders when he thinks about the night he was slashed… A nasty scar on his left arm is a constant reminder for him of the night when Robert Karanja attacked.

It had started out as a normal night out, but ended with blood pouring down Martin's arm at Swindon station while a girl ran from platform to platform shrieking: 'I've been stabbed. I've been stabbed'.

Martin, 25, of Purton Road, Moredon, was on a night out at Pasha's Nightclub in Fleet Street with his girlfriend, as well as Victoria Pike and her boyfriend…

While at the club, they spotted Karanja dancing very closely to several women, who did not welcome his attentions. He was asked by the club manager to leave.

After the four revellers left they jumped in a taxi, but had not gone far before one of the couples argued and they all got out on Station Road. Then a taxi in front of them stopped and Karanja got out. Without a word he started having a scuffle with Martin.

Having pushed him to the ground, Martin and the other three walked towards the station. Then they bumped into Stacey Deacon, who they had seen earlier in the nightclub and started chatting to her. Then all hell broke loose.

They hadn't seen Karanja coming around the corner to find them.

The next thing Martin knew, Victoria had been punched in the face and without any words being exchanged, Karanja was coming for him. Martin said:

'He just walked up and slashed me across the arm. I just felt a sting. He marched off ­ getting into a taxi. I ran into the station, holding my arm to try and get some help. Upstairs on one of the platforms Stacey was running up and down, shouting she had been stabbed. She was in shock.

'It all happened so fast, I didn't even know she had been involved. The next thing I knew I was being grabbed by a paramedic.' Martin spent two days in hospital and said:

'I am still a bit wary of going out at night now. Things could have been a lot worse, but now I am constantly looking over my shoulder.'

Stacey Deacon couldn't hold her new baby after being stabbed twice through the abdomen. Yesterday she cheered then sobbed in the public gallery as Robert Karanja was found guilty of attempting to murder her. Speaking of her huge relief, the 23-year-old mother-of-two said:

'I feel relieved he's caught and can't do it to anyone else. I didn't know the man.'

Stacey had told how the stabbing felt like two blows. One of the wounds was 10cm deep and had perforated her small bowel, slicing it in four places…

'I have got two children aged four and 16 months. For the first few months after I was stabbed I couldn't hold my baby. Now I am just going to move on with my life and concentrate on my children.'

Giving evidence, Karanja said:

'I was being punched and kicked. I believe the injuries to Stacey Deacon were caused during my struggle to break free. The injuries were caused by accident and were not deliberate.'

But the jury rejected this point of view, and decided that Karanja's rage was such that he had tried to kill Stacey."

On the 6th of January, 2006, The Swindon Advertiser told us more:

"Robert Karanja has now been jailed for nine years…

Miss Deacon says she will never forget how he could have taken her away from her children. She said:

'My partner wants me to forgive him because otherwise it just makes you bitter. But I don't know if I ever can. That's the man who wanted to take me away from my children, my partner and my family.'

Miss Deacon, 24, was in court on Friday when the judge sentenced Karanja. He was found guilty by a jury in October. I am happy with that, but at the same time I'm left thinking is that all my life is worth?' she said.

'My mum was really angry, but I'm her daughter and I don't think even the death penalty would be enough in her eyes.'

Since the attack in November 2004 Miss Deacon said she has become a lot more wary.

'I won't go out in the town centre at night any more, I've done it once or twice and I just don't like it,' she said.

Miss Deacon said after she was stabbed she was convinced she was going to die.

'It was just like being punched, it wasn't until I tried to run away that I put my hand down to my side and felt the blood,' she said.

'I thought I was going to die, all that kept going through my head was how I would never see my children again.

It was terrifying, and I was so scared that he was going to come back. That was my biggest worry, that he would be back in Swindon within a year, at least now I know that is not going to happen…

My five-year-old daughter has asked me what happened… How am I supposed to explain that this nasty man hurt mummy for no reason? Why should I have to? It really upsets me when she asks about it, but I still have days when I don't feel like doing anything and she asks me what's wrong'."

Good for you and your mother, Stacey, your feelings regarding the creature who tried to kill you are entirely appropriate.

As for the milquetoast who wants you "to forgive him because otherwise it just makes you bitter",

Sack him.

You wouldn't sack your "supportive partner" just because he's a soft-hearted?

Let me ask you a question, Stacey.
 
If your let's-not-be-bitter boyfriend had been there that night, do you think he would have put himself in between you and the African savage and started swinging?

Or do you think he'd have tried to reason with the poor, misunderstood chap?

Do you think, in the split second it takes a bleeding-heart, on-message bumwag to say "I feel your pain, Mr Immigrant", that your guts might have been spilling out all over the road and there's you thinking that you'll never see your kids again?

The British man who is not prepared to hate the murderous alien who tries to kill his lady, is not the kind of bloke she should be lavishing her affections upon.

Find yourself a better man, Stacey.

There are plenty about who would be happy to hate the bad guy every bit as much as your mother does.

This is Robert Karanja: