AN ASSAILANT who carried out an apparently unprovoked attack in a Rugby social club car park before threatening his victim with a five-to-six inch knife has been jailed.
Andrew Orzechowski should have appeared at Warwick Crown Court earlier this month, but failed to attend and a warrant was issued for his arrest.
And following the execution of the warrant he pleaded guilty to charges of common assault and possessing an offensive weapon.
Orzechowski, 33, of Skiddaw, Rugby, was jailed for eight months, with a consecutive one-week sentence for failing to surrender to his bail, which he also admitted.
Prosecutor Ian Speed said that at 4.30 in the afternoon on September 27 last year Orzechowski approached another man in the car park of Rugby Workers Club in Oliver Street.
He headbutted the other man, pushed him to the ground and kicked him, before pulling out a sheath knife and pointing it at his victim.
But although the incident had been captured on a CCTV camera, the other man did not wish to co-operate with the police, pointed out Mr Speed.
He added that Orzechowski had ‘a substantial criminal record,’ although there were only two offences since 2010, and it was his second knife offence.
Kevin Saunders, defending, said: “The court is invited to reflect his guilty plea in circumstances where the apparent victim was unwilling to co-operate.”
He said that at the age of just 33 Orzechaowski had ‘significant health problems,’ including pancreatitis as a consequence of alcoholism when he was younger, acute kidney disease, thrombosis and a protruding hernia.
He also had his spleen removed following a car crash when he was in his 20s, and is on daily doses of penicillin as a result.
Recorder Christopher Goodchild accepted: “He’s a mess.”
Jailing Orzechowski, he told him: “The assault was bad enough, and although it’s only a category two offence, the fact remains it’s at the higher end of common assault.
“The other offence, however, is much more serious, and that is the production of a knife.
“This was not man-to-man, it was going to be knife-to-man – and this was not a penknife, it was a sheath knife with a 5-inch to 6-inch blade.
“That is serious stuff, and it’s not the first time you’ve done it.”
