A man who left a convicted robber paralysed by plunging a knife into his back has been cleared of trying to kill him.
Clint Chella, 27, was knifed nine times by Andre Dennis Brown, 20, after a street fight in Harlesden.
One of the wounds damaged Mr Chella's spinal cord, leaving the father-of-one confined to a wheelchair and unlikely to walk again.
Mr Chella had claimed he was a Good Samaritan who tried to break up the clashes, but during the Old Bailey trial, it was alleged that he stole Brown's phone in a robbery.
The jury heard the victim had a string of convictions for knife-point robberies, bag snatches and a raid on a shop with an imitation firearm.
The jury acquitted Brown of attempted murder and causing grievous bodily harm with intent on Monday.
He insisted Mr Chella went for him first and he stabbed him with his own blade in an act of self-defence.
It was said Mr Chella had tried to break up a street brawl in Alric Avenue, Harlesden, on August 17 last year.
After the fight calmed down, Mr Chella approached Mr Brown to talk through their differences.
It had been claimed Mr Brown then plunged a kitchen knife into Mr Chella's back and stabbed him repeatedly before running off.
Mr Brown told jurors that Mr Chella had previously stolen two mobiles from him and when he went to a mutual friend's house to get them back, Mr Chella attacked him.
Mr Brown, of Merlot Court, Church Lane, Kingsbury, denied attempted murder and an alternative of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
