For Brian Wallace, October 21, 2007 is a night he will remember for the rest of his life.

It was supposed to be a day of celebration. The off-duty bouncer was at his brother’s 21st birthday at the Chimney Corner Hotel when he encountered the violent thug who almost ended his life.

The 30-year-old Glengormley man was stabbed five times during a fight outside the hotel’s nightclub and spent two weeks in hospital, having suffered lacerations to his lung and kidney as well as puncture wounds to his chest, body and upper groin.

And although the physical wounds may have healed, Mr Wallace still bears the mental scars from that vicious attack.

When he discovered this week that his attacker, Simon Granhof, received £12,500 in compensation for being wrongly held for |two weeks in a detention centre, the local man said he felt sick. So far Mr Wallace has not received any compensation for the injuries he suffered. He is currently embroiled in a legal wrangle after an original offer of £7,500 compensation was reduced because he has a driving conviction.

He told the Belfast Telegraph: “It is absolutely disgusting, I am sickened. He stabbed me five times, I was in hospital for two weeks and when I came out I was confined to a bedroom for five months. He got four years but obviously only served two. To think that he was detained, for whatever reason, two weeks’ extra and gets £12,500, I am lost for words.

“He got two weeks’ detention over what he was meant to. I spent months in a room probably the same size as his cell and feeling the way I felt with my injuries.

“Where’s the justice? Is it for the criminals? It’s not about the victims,” Mr Wallace told the Belfast Telegraph.

The judge who jailed Granhof heard he had been staying at the Chimney Corner while working at wind turbines. He was ejected from the hotel nightclub following an altercation with Mr Wallace and his friends. But a violent row erupted again outside and Mr Wallace was brutally stabbed.

“It was horrendous. I don’t remember too much about it; I was taken to the Royal but was transferred to the City Hospital because of the damage to my kidney.

“I was bed-ridden for the whole time. I couldn’t walk up the stairs, I was basically in the same bedroom for five months, and if I did have to walk to the kitchen to get a glass of water, I’d have to sit down for about half an hour to catch my breath,” he added.

As a recipient of 50% remission, Granhof finished his jail term in October. However, as soon as he was released he was taken to a detention centre. An application for a judicial review of that decision was to be heard at Belfast High Court on Wednesday, but a barrister for the UK Borders Agency said both parties had resolved the case and a sum of £12,500 would be paid.

Mr Wallace said he feels let down by the justice system.

He said: “The detective was more than good, he told me that he wanted to get Granhof for attempted murder and was confident of it. But the PPS had that charged dropped to GBH with intent and then dropped again to wounding with intent. It is absolutely unreal, the justice system, and this has just compounded it. To give this guy a full payment, that stabbed someone — it’s my money — taxpayers’ money. It sickens me. I thought it had all gone away. As far as I was concerned this guy had left the country, until my dad saw it on the news. When I heard I was sick because I have lived with it for over two years. I have no doubt in my mind that he was trying to kill me, but that’s the way the justice system is.”

News of the payout has sparked an angry reaction from politicians who see it as another example of victims being ignored.

Former Police Federation Chairman Jimmy Spratt described the sum paid to Granhof as an “insult”. “The circumstances seem crazy that somebody who has committed an appalling crime is then compensated,” he said.

Granhof, who was still subject to a direction that he should leave the UK, was scheduled to board a flight to Spain yesterday.

Belfast Telegraph