A teenager has been sentenced to 14 years for stabbing a gay man in the chest, piercing his heart and leaving him in need of emergency surgery.

19 year-old Floyd Evans (pictured) was charged with the near-fatal stabbing of Francisco Nascimento, who he attacked in the City Walls area in Chester, UK, a popular “gay cruising ground” late last year.

The judge on the case believed this was a homophobic attack, given the location it occurred in. Prior to the attack, Evans had been drinking alcohol and taking cocaine in the toilets of a nearby bar.

The attacker was known to the police. The jury heard that a 999 call made by Evans in the 12 months prior to the incident resulted in the teenager threatening to stab police officers and “set them alight”. While he has been cleared of attempted murder, the jury convicted Evans of “intent to wound” last month and sentenced him to 14 years in a Young Offenders Institute.

The victim told Judge Elgan Edwards how he had been left “mentally distraught, suffering anxiety, paranoia and insomnia”. He is also reluctant to go swimming, something he did regularly before the attack, due to the visible scarring on his chest.

Judge Edwards told Evans, “You were convicted correctly by the jury of wounding with intent to do serious harm. You armed yourself with a knife, wandered the streets of Chester and found your way deliberately to a place you knew well was a meeting place for homosexuals”.

Senior Crown Prosecutor with Mersey-Chesire Crown Prosecution Service spoke of the result, “We welcome the sentence handed out to Floyd Evans today. He now has several years in prison to reflect on the violence and recklessness of his actions on that night”.

He added that the victim was “only alive today due to the swift actions of his friend”, a police officer who happened to be passing by, and the staff at the Royal Liverpool Hospital where he had been taken for emergency surgery.