“I thought I was going to die. I was upset I had not been able to tell my mum I loved her.”

That was the heart-wrenching testimony of a young man who was stabbed in the neck by a crazed knifeman outside The Gighouse in Wokingham in February 2022. 

Ki Alvis of Lee, 23, from Carey Road, Wokingham, was today locked up for almost nine years after stabbing Rowan Noone and slashing his friend Oliver Vickers earlier this year. 

Reading Crown Court heard how the defendant waited for the friends to come out of the nightclub after being confronted by Noone about an ‘inappropriate’ comment he had made towards a woman earlier that evening. 

Noone suffered a collapsed lung and was taken straight to theatre at Royal Berkshire Hospital, but was discharged after two days of intensive care. 

Despite this, the Wokingham man’s recovery has not been straightforward, as he outlined in a victim statement read by prosecutor Elaine Freer at Alvis of Lee’s sentencing. 

Mr Noone said: “I did not do anything to this man. 

“He stabbed me in the neck and almost cost me my life. 

“The reality is I didn’t do anything, so how am I not meant to see everybody else as a potential attacker?

“I’m constantly on edge looking over my shoulder. 

“I have never been one to get into fights and still this happened to me.

“I thought I was going to die. I was upset I had not been able to tell my mum I loved her. I told my girlfriend to tell her.

“I always thought these stabbings happened to people in the wrong crowds. 

“But this happened in my hometown of Wokingham, somewhere I thought I would feel safe.”

Mr Noone said years-old anger issues he used to experience had resurfaced as a result of the incident, and he told the court that he has suffered from nightmares and flashbacks since. 

“I’m struggling to see the light at the end of the tunnel where I can be my old self again”, the statement continued. 

He added: “This has changed me as a person. I just can’t see that I will ever get back to the person I was. 

“I’m not sure I will ever heal form this but I hope I will learn to cope.”

Mr Noone is a semi-professional rugby player and in his statement, he explained that the injury to his neck has affected his ability to communicate with his teammates due to the impact it had on his vocal chords. 

He said: “I know I am lucky to escape with my life but I worry I might never get my voice back to how it was. 

“I will never understand why this person did this to me. What could I have done differently to avoid this attack?

“Because I do not know the answers, I live my life in constant fear that this will happen again.”

The defendant also had a statement read out at Reading Crown Court. 

In a letter to the judge read by defence barrister Mr De Feu, Alvis of Lee said: “Words cannot describe how relieved I am the two men [victims] were not more seriously injured. 

“The events of that night were unforgivable and I hope they can one day forgive me. 

“If I could take this all back, I would. That is my one wish. 

“I feel like I have proven anybody who said I would not amount to anything right. 

“I also hope this sentence serves as closure for the two men.”

Alvis of Lee was sentenced at Reading Crown Court on Wednesday, May 18.