Man who stabbed his teenage pal in a frenzied attack at his home in Darwen has been jailed

Preston Crown Court heard the 17-year-old victim, who can not be named for legal reasons, thought he was going to die when Arturus Galinauskas, 29, broke into the house and launched a savage attack on him, while he slept on the sofa.

Wai Ming Lam, 34, drove from Southport with Galinauskas and a third man to carry out the burglary, in which £1600 cash was stolen, but waited outside the house.

The third man, who was wearing a balaclava at the time of the break-in, remains at large, the court heard.

Judge Heather Lloyd, sentencing, said: “This was a savage attack. The room was covered in blood.

“It is quite understandable your victim thought he was going to die.

“It is quite understandable that he was unwilling to name you as his assailant.

"If this is what someone who was supposed to be a friend was prepared to do, what would a person less friendly do?”

The court heard the teenager’s life was saved by the thick clothing he was wearing and a woman who was in the house called 999.

When the teenager’s mother visited him in hospital following the attack, she thought he was 'half dead', the court heard.

Judge Lloyd said the background to the case was drug dealing.

“What I suspect to be true is that you were indebted to your own dealers and have been sucked into this seedy world,” she told Galinauskas.

“Through the drugs world, you have sunk so low as to repeatedly stab someone you call a close friend.”

Following the attack, the victim’s family has moved house and his mother has changed her car as they remain fearful, the court heard.

Two days after the attack, Lam was caught with the case in an envelope, minus £20 which had been spent at a petrol station.

Judge Lloyd said: “You are older and perhaps more canny. You stayed outside.

"You were the person ultimately entrusted with the cash which was stolen.”

Lam, of Hope Street, Southport, pleaded guilty to burglary and was jailed for 38 months. The judge also handed him a 40 month driving ban after hearing he had insured a vehicle and been the driver for the operation.

Galinauskas, of Nelson Street, Southport, was sentenced to six years and eight months in a young offenders’ institute.

The court heard the victim’s mum described the men as 'scumbags'.