Four jailed for Worthing amputations stabbing
Three men and a youth have been jailed after being found guilty of stabbing a man resulting in both his arms and legs having to be amputated.
Ernest Moyo, who was 25 at the time, was attacked as he left a party in Worthing, West Sussex, in August 2012.
He later contracted a blood infection which resulted in the amputations.
Patrick Brookes, 27, was jailed for 16 years, while Jeramiah Reynolds, 26, Dominic Brookes, 19, and Trey Johnson, 17, were each sentenced to 15 years.
All four defendants were found guilty at previous hearings of grievous bodily harm with intent.
They had all denied the offence.
Mr Moyo, who is known as Joe, was at a party in Pavilion Road when he was stabbed once in the thigh and twice in the abdomen after a row about a mobile phone.
After infection spread and his vital organs were put in danger, doctors amputated his arms and legs.
His family were so distressed by the incident and Mr Moyo had such little recollection of what happened to him, they told him initially he had been in a car crash.
He now has prosthetic limbs.
Dominic Brookes, from Bramble Close, Croydon, south London, and Trey Johnson, of Victoria Road, Worthing, were both found guilty following a trial in August, and told they would serve their sentences in a young offenders' institute.
Patrick Brookes, from Clifton Road, in Worthing, and Jeramiah Reynolds, 26, from Ascham End, Walthamstow, east London, were found guilty in March.
Sentencing them at Hove Crown Court, Judge Anthony Niblett said the effects of the attack had been "devastating".
"There's only one reason for the nature and extent of these injuries - that is the use of knives.
"People who use knives must understand the risks involved and that the injuries sustained by the victims will be of the greatest seriousness."
Speaking outside the court, Mr Moyo said he was coping as best as he could.
"The prosthetics make life that little bit easier for me.
"I just have to live with it, learning new things day by day," he said.