Stab victim lost spleen in knife attack

Stab victim lost spleen in knife attack


The victim of a knife attack will have to take daily doses of penicillin for the rest of his life to avoid infections after his spleen was removed after he was stabbed in 2013.
Seventeen-year-old Henry Newham recalled at the trial of Shane Naughton how he thought he was punched ‘really hard’ in his side and did not realise he was stabbed until he noticed blood coming from his side. He was 16 years-old at the time.
Mr Newham, a Rice College student, underwent emergency surgery within half an hour of his arrival in Mayo General Hospital after suffering a ‘significant deep penetration’ to the left flank and a wound measuring 4cm in width.
Mr Newham’s spleen was removed during the surgery which lasted for two and a half hours and as a result he has to take daily doses of penicillin for life to avoid infection. He suffered significant blood loss as a result of the attack, with 1.8 litres of fresh blood removed from his abdomen cavity during surgery and received two units of blood post surgery.
The knife wound also caused a 1cm tear to both his colon and diaphragm and he remained in hospital until March 26. He also sustained a second ‘U’ shape laceration to the right forearm measuring 15cm in length but this was not bleeding.
In his report, Mr Kevin Barry, General Surgeon in MGH said Mr Newham suffered life threatening injuries, consistent with being caused by a long knife or blade and pushed with ‘significant force’ to cause a ‘deep penetration’.

Testimony
In his testimony, Mr Newham said he was at a birthday party in a house when a group of people left and he followed them. He said he was a bit back from the group when he heard shouting and the smashing of glass.
He explained that everyone started running and he went towards the slipway to the Railway Walk when he found himself on his own. He said he saw a group of lads coming towards him and he started to walk to them after initially thinking they were from Westport. They started to shout at him so he turned around and he then described thinking he was ‘hit really hard’ with a punch to the side.
He stumbled onto the railway line and after noticing blood coming out of his side he said he knew he was stabbed. He walked towards the bridge at High Street where he was assisted by two people who tried to stop the bleeding and was also assisted by the gardaí who arrived on the scene.
Paramedics arrived at the scene at 11.06pm and the court heard he lost 500ml of blood at the location before being brought to hospital.
When cross-examined by Mr Orange, SC for Mr Naughton, Mr Newham said he heard at the party that there was ‘going to be a bit of commotion’ but did not remember who said it. He said there was a group of lads outside a house and heard glass smashing but did not know what was going on.
Mr Newham told Mr Orange that he did not recall anything about the people who attacked him and did not recognise any of them.