Machete ‘swung like a lightsaber’ in attack that ended with car crash

Police were called to reports of a violent disturbance on Micklegate in Selby at 2.35am on August 5, 2018.

Officers found a man with a slash wound across his left ear and a left shoulder. He was being tended to by a friend who had suffered a cut to his chest.

Two other men fled after they were attacked. One had a large slash wound to his chest and a deep laceration down to the bone on his right bicep.

The other had a deep laceration to his right wrist, causing tendon damage.

Witnesses described one of the attackers “running around, swinging it [the machete] like a lightsaber in Star Wars” and “like something from a film”. Officers at the scene established that the suspects had left in a stolen black Audi. The car was spotted by police at 3.40am, heading out of Selby towards the A1. It failed to stop, and was pursued by officers.

It drove dangerously, before crashing into a silver VW Golf taxi on a roundabout in Glass Houghton. Shekquarn Fitzgerald and Benjamin Wilson were arrested. CCTV showed a fight involving Wilson, and then Fitzgerald retrieving a machete from the Audi before joining in and inflicting the injuries.

Fitzgerald, 19, was charged with four counts of wounding with intent. Wilson, 24, was charged with dangerous driving and handling stolen goods. Both men were charged with having a machete in a public place. They pleaded guilty at York Crown Court in December.

On January 23 at York Crown Court, Fitzgerald was jailed for 10 years plus a three-year extended parole, and Wilson for two years. Wilson was also banned from driving for four years and ordered to take an extended driving test.