A 93-year-old grandfather was repeatedly stabbed in the face and neck in front of his petrified daughter.
William Finney was knocked to the ground and stabbed with a kitchen knife by neighbour Sidney Smith after a disagreement.
Mr Finney had to have surgery after suffering 13 stab injuries – mainly to his face and neck – and a gashed arm.
Smith (61) had denied attempting to commit murder on May 31, 2011. At Leicester Crown Court yesterday, Judge Simon Hammond ruled he was now too ill with dementia to stand trial.
However, a jury heard the evidence in the case and agreed Smith was responsible for "carrying out the act" – rather than establishing guilt or innocence.
The attack happened at the Palma Park mobile home site, in Shelley Road, Loughborough, where they both lived at the time.
Smith, who has since moved to Flint Drive, Melton, was placed under two years of supervision by the probation service.
Judge Hammond said: "This is a terribly serious matter and very sad as well. You must learn from this. If anything like this happens again the outcome will be very different."
The court heard that neighbour Peter Gilbert, a former soldier, helped save Mr Finney's life.
Using an extendable baton from his Army days, he disarmed Smith and detained him until police arrived.
Mr Gilbert told the court: "I screamed at Sid Smith to stand back and placed myself between them, but he came at me with the knife. I side-stepped and struck him with my baton on the arm.
"He tried to get round me and I struck him again, and then managed to hit him on the wrist and he dropped the knife. Sid said he was going to 'finish him'. I then put him on the ground and held him until police arrived."
In a statement read out in court, Mr Finney's daughter, Pauline Dubberley, said she saw her father and Smith talking amicably moments before the attack.
She said: "I suddenly heard my daughter screaming and went outside. Sid was on top of my dad and was stabbing him. I shouted at Sid to stop.
"There were dustbin bags out and I picked up one and threw it at him and he stood back.
"Then he came running towards me, swinging the knife.
"I picked up another bag and threw it at him and he stood back and looked at my dad.
"Then he went in again – stab, stab, stab, stab, stab."
Mr Finney, now 96, was the former owner of Palma Park, which he sold to Mr Smith in 2010. The men may have had a disagreement about which exit should be used by residents at the site, the court heard.
Smith was delivering leaflets about exit roads when he encountered the victim, said prosecutor Richard Thatcher.
Smith claimed that he never intended to kill Mr Finney.
Smith's barrister, James Harrison, told the court: "Everyone is at a loss to explain how what happened came to pass. There's been an absence of anything similar, in two-and-a-half years, which suggests it can be managed in the community."
