A man has appeared in court accused of attempted murder following the alleged stabbing of a man who is described as being critically ill in hospital.
Viorel Iulian Pricope, a 24-year-old Romanian national, faces a total of six charges.
These arise out of an incident at an address on Warwick Square in Carlisle on Saturday night, during which a 38-year-old man is said to have suffered a stab wound.
One charge alleges that Pricope attempted to murder Marcin Lichaczewski; a second alleges the illegal possession of a knife in public, at Warwick Square; and a third states that he committed an act with intent to pervert the course of public justice — allegedly “discarding blood-stained clothing and changed into new clothes having stabbed a man with a knife”.
Pricope, of Warwick Square, Carlisle, is further charged with assaulting both a male and female by beating, and affray.
Two other men — Fernando Andrei Haliga, aged 23, of St Nicholas Street, and 25-year-old Costel-Mihaita Puiu, of Warwick Square, both Carlisle — are charged with affray. Haliga is also charged with offensive weapon possession and committing an act with intent to pervert the course of public justice.
All three men appeared separately at North and West Cumbria Magistrates’ Court in Carlisle today.
Prosecutor Andy Travers gave brief details of the incident and revealed that the male named as the alleged victim of the attempted murder charge was critically ill in a Newcastle hospital and had been placed in an induced coma.
He had, said Mr Travers, suffered a 10cm to 15cm-long wound, cutting through his liver and extending upwards to the lining of his heart.
The three defendants were brought into the court dock one at a time by security staff due to COVID restrictions, and were assisted by an interpreter who appeared remotely over a video link.
No pleas were entered by Pricope and Haliga, while Puiu pleaded not guilty to the single affray charge he faces.
All three men were remanded in custody by the magistrates, and are next due to appear at the city’s crown court on Wednesday, March 10.
