A man who slashed a woman?s throat and then chased Police officers brandishing a machete during a violent rampage was jailed for five years yesterday.

Father-of-three Leonard Raynor, 24, left victim Tanisha Powell with a six-inch wound. In the orgy of drink-fuelled violence that followed, he also threatened to kill a Police officer?s family and chopped at Police vehicles with a machete. Crown Counsel Cindy Clarke told Supreme Court yesterday that Raynor, from Pembroke, and Miss Powell had previously been in involved in an intimate relationship.

At around 4 a.m on November 12 last year she was at her Devonshire home with a male friend when she heard suspicious noises and went to look out of the front door. Raynor then forced his way in.

Miss Powell?s male friend left after a confrontation with Raynor, at which point he produced a kitchen knife and placed it on Miss Powell?s throat causing a six-inch laceration, said Ms Clarke.

She fled to her place of work ? the Hamilton Princess Hotel ? to seek refuge. She was given first aid before being taken to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital (KEMH) for treatment, and the Police were called.

At 4.30 a.m. a security guard at the hotel reported that a man ? who turned out to be Raynor ? was in the parking lot with a machete. When Police arrived he sped off on the motorcycle leading to a high-speed chase throughout the city of Hamilton. He eventually lost control of his motorcycle on Reid Street and fell to the ground.

Outlining the drama that followed, Ms Clarke said that a pursuing Police officer, P.c. Rickson Wiltshire, got out of his vehicle and approached the defendant. Raynor pulled a machete from his pants and swung it at a Policeman and shouted profanities. When Police Sgt. Alex Rollin arrived to assist, Raynor continued the violence.

?He began to chop the Sergeant?s Police car with the machete and attempted to open one of the passenger doors. The defendant was unable to gain entry as the doors were locked. He then began to chop at the glass on the front windshield and driver?s door,? said Ms Clarke.

After Sgt. Rollin retreated, Raynor produced a kitchen knife with a five-inch blade and dropped it on the road, before approaching the Police car that had chased him and chopping its bonnet and roof with the machete.

He continued to chase officers who had to hide in their cars, while chopping vehicles including a Police Land Cruiser.

He was finally captured after the Land Cruiser driver used it to pin him up against another vehicle and P.c. Wiltshire came up behind him and struck him on the hand with a baton, causing him to drop the machete.

The damage he caused to three Police vehicles came to an estimated $5,340. When taken to Hamilton Police Station and asked about why he had acted as he did, he replied: ?Some nigga ran up on my girl and I don?t play that ? I?m not no punk.?

After he had been taken to KEMH for treatment to the road rash he sustained when he fell from his motorcycle, he told a Police sergeant: ?Punk ass b***h, if I ever see you and your wife I?m going to cut her throat so you can watch her bleed to death. All I have to do is make a phone call and I will find out where you live. If you have kids, I will kill them too.?

When brought before the Supreme Court on July 11 this year, Raynor pleaded guilty to one wounding charge, one of burglary, two of possessing a bladed article, three of common assault, three of causing wilful damage and one of using threatening words.

He has previous convictions including causing actual bodily harm to two Police officers, violently resisting arrest, using offensive words, burglary, and escaping from custody. He is unemployed, has one child, and was last released from custody in April 2002.

Defence lawyer Elizabeth Christopher said her client has a fianc?e and three little boys. He was described by a Bermuda Assessment and Referral Centre report as ?intelligent?. Pre-sentence reports, she said, made it clear that Raynor needed help and explained that he has problems with alcohol.

Raynor told the court: ?I?m very sorry for what I did. People do drink, and they don?t know what they are doing when they drink. I was not in my right mind.?

Sentencing Raynor to five years behind bars, Acting Chief Justice Norma Wade-Miller said: ?This is a very serious violent attack that put a number of individuals in fear of their safety and well-being.?

She ordered him to spend three years on probation upon his release.