Student Surgeon May Be Spared Jail Time In Tinder Stabbing Case Because She’s ‘Too Bright’

A judge in England has considered lessening the charges of an aspiring surgeon who sliced a knife into a man she met on Tinder, because the outcome of the stabbing case could send the woman to jail.

University of Oxford student Lavinia Woodward, 24, reportedly jammed a bread knife into the leg of her Tinder boyfriend Thomas Faircloud, according to The Sun, during a drug and alcohol-infused altercation at Christ Church College, one of several educational institutions housed under the Oxford banner, in September, 2016.

Following her apparent arrest for the crime, Woodward admitted to authorities that she indeed assaulted her lover with the weapon after first punching and waving the knife at Faircloud on the university grounds.

“She admitted [to] unlawfully wounding [Fairchild], the Cambridge University student, who she met on the dating app Tinder,” writers for The Guardian detailed.

As the appointed judge of the Tinder stabbing case, officiant Ian Pringle of Oxford Crown Court was also made aware of Woodward’s actions, but instead chose to defer her sentencing by four months, due to the “extraordinary” possibilities the defendant’s chosen career path could possibly lead to.

Student surgeon who stabbed boyfriend set to avoid jail because of her 'talent'https://t.co/0u7Xsqp8bJ pic.twitter.com/dr8FjgVyX5

— The Scottish Sun (@ScottishSun) May 16, 2017

“It seems to me that if this [crime] was a one-off,” Pringle expressed from the bench.

“To prevent this extraordinary [and] able young lady from not following her long-held desire to enter the profession she wishes, would be a sentence which would be too severe.”

Turning sympathetic toward the Tinder-stabbing Woodward, Pringle went on to say that the memories that led to the case being crafted around the admitted assaulter would be punishment enough for her once the matter was settled.

“What you did; I know, will never leave you,” Judge Pringle provided, “but it was pretty awful, and normally it would attract a custodial sentence, whether it is immediate or suspended.”

Woodward, who appeared at the hearing, was subsequently allowed to fly to Milan, Italy, where her mother resides, at its end (The Sun incidentally noted that Woodward boarded a plane to Barbados after Pringle’s polite proclamation).

During earlier court deliberations, Prosecutor Cathy Olliver remarked that Fairchild and his Tinder match got along splendidly when they first linked up through the app, but on September 30 of last year, Lavinia’s behavior suddenly “deteriorated.”

“[Woodward’s] boyfriend called [the accused’s mother] on Skype” to notify her of her daughter’s sudden mood shift, which led “his then-girlfriend [to punch] him in the face, before picking up a bread knife and stabbing him in the leg,” the New York Post transcribed.

Officials at Christ Church have since invited Woodward to return for their upcoming fall semester, later this year.

“The court was told that [the school] allow her to return in October because she is ‘that bright,’ and has had articles published in medical journals,” journalists for The Telegraph explain.

Another student of a certain affluence, former Stanford University student Brock Turner, was once also handed a slap-in-the-wrist-like sentence for a more severe crime: The sexual assault of an unconscious woman on his school’s campus in January 2015, as CNN shared.

Initially ordered by a judge to spend six months in a California prison (as opposed to prosecutors’ request for six years), Turner went on to have half of his already-shortened term sliced in half for “good behavior,” and was free to go by September 2016.

“We don’t know who picked him up or where he’s going, but we’re done with him,” Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith told reporters outside the jail house where Taylor was temporarily housed.

“He should be in prison right now, but he’s not in our custody.”

The Tinder stabbing case will commence with Woodward’s sentencing on September 25. Until then, Judge Pringle has ordered that the woman refrain from contacting Faircloud, the ex-boyfriend she attacked, and drinking alcohol.

[Featured Image by Wavebreakmedia/iStock]