A county lines drug dealer has been jailed for a Norwich stabbing which was designed to strike fear into the local community, a court has heard.
Rahein Phillips, 25, carried out the attack on Jamie Mooney - someone he had previously sold drugs to - on the streets of Mile Cross.
His victim was so badly wounded that he thought he was going to die and lost part of his bowel in the stabbing.
Phillips, a Londoner, was a runner for a gang involved in a county lines operation to traffic drugs in the city.
Such gangs move from larger cities to smaller ones like Norwich to set up new markets for their drugs.
Once in a new location, they establish themselves through intimidation and violence, and police believe the Mile Cross stabbing was carried out to create this effect.
Jailing Phillips, Judge Katharine Moore told Norwich Crown Court it had been a "calculated act of instrumental violence in county lines drug dealing, striking fear into customers and local residents alike".
The stabbing happened on May 13, 2020, and Phillips was jailed last year. But the full story can only be told now, after the end of legal proceedings against fellow gang members.
Phillips' trial heard how the violence flared after Mr Mooney, who was then a drug user and had taken £10 worth of heroin earlier that day, annoyed Phillips.
The pair were at Mr Mooney's then girlfriend's house on Marshall Road, Mile Cross, and Phillips had a quantity of drugs on him to sell.
He became irritated by Mr Mooney, who he thought was being a nuisance and creating a scene which could have attracted attention to his drug dealing.
He warned the girlfriend "get rid of Jamie before he gets hurt" and she got him out of the flat and told him to wait on nearby Bolingbroke Road, by the Boundary pub, smoking some drugs.
As she walked back to her flat she saw Phillips leaving in a car. The vehicle drove over to Mr Mooney, where Phillips leapt out and started to stab him in the stomach and leg.
Mr Mooney told the court: "A guy got out of the car and said something - I don’t know what was said. But I remember my leg being stabbed a few times.”
He added: “I got stabbed in my leg. It was painful. Then he got me in the stomach as well. I can’t really remember all that much - I ended up in hospital.”
His girlfriend told the court: "I ran straight to Jamie and tried to help him."
She said he was laying on the ground and bleeding heavily: "He was lying on the floor. There were puddles of blood coming from everywhere. I could not stop the blood."
Phillips - who is known as 'T' - was later charged with attempted murder but cleared following a trial at Norwich Crown Court in December 2020. However, he was found guilty of causing grievous bodily harm with intent.
He was also found guilty of having an offensive weapon - a Rambo-style knife - after a trial, and had earlier admitted conspiracy to supply heroin and cocaine.
In February last year he was given an extended 21-year sentence made up of 16 years custody and five years on licence by Judge Moore.
Roy Headlam, mitigating for Phillips, who refused to leave his cell for sentencing, said the defendant had a number of difficulties, including ADHD and a hyperactivity disorder.
He said Phillips was "still relatively young and has mental health issues" as well as difficulties with institutions.
Sentenced alongside Philips were Trae Henry, 25, and Emmanuel Onzi, 24, both of London, who both admitted conspiracy to supply heroin and cocaine.
Henry was jailed for a total of five years and three months, while Onzi was jailed for three years and eight months.
But we were unable to report any of the sentencings until now after a prohibition was put in place delaying the publication of any report until after the cases of two co-defendants, Sofia El Yamani and her then partner Seyi Ani-Agbaje, who played significant roles in the Norwich county lines ring, with Ani-Agbaje running it from inside prison.
COUPLE "WITH BLOOD ON THEIR HANDS"
Sofia El Yamani, 24, from Clapton, was found guilty after a trial in February this year of conspiracy to supply heroin and cocaine between July 2019 and June 2020.
She was sentenced to 12 years in prison on Friday (April 1) while her then partner Seyi Ani-Agbaje, 27, of HMP The Mount, is to be sentenced later this month.
He has previously admitted two counts of conspiracy to supply class A drugs and also one count of possessing a mobile phone in prison.
Edward Renvoize, prosecuting, said Ani-Agbaje - who was in prison at the time serving another sentence for drugs offences - was controlling the drugs ring from his cell, giving instructions to El Yamani who in turn gave them to Phillips.
Jailing El Yamani Judge Andrew Shaw said it had been an extremely profitable county lines drug dealing operation in which both she and her co-defendant were keen to keep the conspiracy going "no matter what the cost to others".
Judge Shaw said this was highlighted by the near fatal stabbing of Mr Mooney by Phillips and he said that both she and Ani-Agbaje had "blood on your hands".
Christopher Whitehouse, mitigating for El Yamani, said she fought her trial and lost and therefore can have no credit for plea.
He said that at all times it was the co-defendant who was the "controlling mind of the conspiracy" and who had abused her.
Previously, Gavin Cowe, on behalf of Henry, said he was a young man who owed money and so volunteered his services but played a significant rather than leading role.
Andrew Thompson, for Onzi, said his client performed a "stop-gap" role in the operation for just a matter of days after his predecessor was "taken out of commission" by the police.
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