A CHARITY helper who stabbed his friend in the stomach has been jailed for four years.

Thomas Kamau left Teddy Harrison with life-threatening injuries after plunging a knife into his stomach at a party in Iffley Road, East Oxford, in December.

The married father-of-two had recently bought a recovery truck for £4,000 to start his own business, but his victim had annoyed him by driving it without permission and hiding the keys.

Kamau, 30, of Pond Close, Risinghurst, was convicted by a jury of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm earlier this month.

On Tuesday, Oxford Crown Court heard 23-year-old Mr Harrison, from Wood Farm, was left with a one-and-a-half inch incision in his left upper abdomen.

Trudi Yeatman, prosecuting, said: “Stomach juices were released into his bloodstream which caused a very serious infection.”

A consultant’s report read out in court stated: “The injury was life-threatening, as a result of blood loss and the contamination of the abdomen with the gastric content.”

Sumita Mahtab, defending, said Kamau had sought political asylum from Kenya in Britain in 1999.

She said: “He belonged to a tribe and his father was an activist in the opposition party. His father and two other brothers were killed, massacred with machetes in front of him at the age of 15.”

Having been put in a Unicef-run orphanage camp, Kamau fled to Britain, where he was financially supported by friends until 2003 when he was permitted to work.

Miss Mahtab said her client worked as a cleaner and in warehouses and “when he wasn’t in work never relied on benefits”.

In 2004 he began working as a care assistant and was “on many occasions given the award for carer of the month” at a care home in Kidlington.

Miss Mahtab said Kamau had bought a recovery truck for £4,000 and had invested a further £5,000 to start the business, which was due to launch shortly after he attacked Mr Harrison.

She added: “He was also involved in charity work with Unicef, delivering magazines and emptying bags for donation.

“He was highly regarded and loved the Kenyan community. This offence was completely out of character.”

Jailing him for four years, Judge Julian Hall said: “This was a single stab wound to a vulnerable part of the body, committed on a friend with whom he had fallen out.”

He added: “I’ve had put before me your personal history which is not unusual but is of course rare nonetheless.

“Many people would admire the way you put your life together after that start.

“It’s quite clear that you’re a force for good in your community.

“Mr Harrison had by the unauthorised use of your truck I think threatened your future.”