A THUG slashed a man’s face with a jagged bread knife leaving the victim with a gash above his eyebrow.

Aaron Edwards, 30, attacked the victim with the knife as well as punching him after being accused of mistreating a puppy.

The incident, on November 25 last year, took place in a shared house in Westcliff.

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Basildon Crown Court heard yesterday that the victim has been left fearful of leaving his own home since the incident.

Prosecuting, Dominic Bell, said: “The victim, who was visiting his friend, could hear a puppy in distress and thought the defendant was mistreating the dog.

“There was a row and the victim pushed the defendant and there was a scuffle. The defendant grabbed a jagged bread knife and attacked the victim with it.

“He slashed at his face and punched him in the face. He suffered a slash wound near his eyebrow. He kept plunging the knife towards the victim but didn’t make contact with him again.

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“The victim was taken to hospital for treatment and images from the scene show blood splattered around the property.”

In a victim impact statement read out in court, the victim said he has been anxious and withdrawn since the incident and is worried about leaving home.

Mitigating, Paul Douglass, told the court, the initial act of violence was by the victim and Edwards momentarily feared for his own safety.

He said: “He accepts his actions were disproportionate and unreasonable. He is horrified about what he did as he knows it could have caused more serious injuries and also as he has children.

“He was suffering unresolved grief and was mentally in a difficult place at the time.”

Sentencing, recorder Sarah Clarke, said: “You escalated it massively and slashed at him several times in the face. He was left with a six centimetre wound above his eyebrow.

“At the time it seemed to be a nasty wound to his forehead. There is a scar but it has faded.”

Edwards, of Hainault Avenue, Westcliff, admitted wounding and was sentenced to nine months in jail.

However, he has already served seven months on remand and will be released.