Three thugs have been jailed after they chased and slashed a random man with a hunting knife on a busy shopping street in broad daylight. The terrified victim tried to hide inside a shop to escape the trio but the shopkeeper refused to shelter him despite his desperate pleas and put him back out on the street to face his knife wielding attackers.
Two out of the three male assailants then went home to change their outfits before returning to the pub, just yards from the incident where they had been drinking before they assaulted the innocent bypasser, Wales Online reports. A judge sentenced Ryan Foyle, 20, Ashton Jones, 26, and Dylan Griffiths 20 to prison after he declared he believed they were enjoying inflicting violence on their victim and said that the fact no one intervened was a telling sign of how terrified the public are of rowdy and violent young men.
Tom Scapens, prosecuting, told Swansea Crown Court on September 6 2022 just after 2pm the three men went to the Eli Jenkins pub on Oxford Street in Swansea city centre where they consumed alcohol. The trio left the bar by 3:30pm and were seen on Oxford Street engaging in "alcohol fuelled anti-social behaviour" as they fired pellets from Nerf guns.
The defendants then spotted a man in his mid-20's who was walking along the road alongside his father in law and began to fire the nerf rounds at the stranger who asked them what they were doing before walking away. The trio then ''pursued'' their target by ''shouting, swearing and laughing" at him and continued to shoot rounds at his back, the court heard.
The man then crossed the road and sought refuge in a shop where he asked the shopkeeper to phone the police as 20 year old, Foyle, threateningly stood outside the store with the other defendants and waved a knife at his victim. The prosecutor said the shopkeeper asked the man to leave his shop as he didn't want any involvement and the victim was left on the street where he was attacked by the waiting gang.
He was repeatedly punched with witnesses claiming he was hit around a dozen times and at one stage, his arms were held up by one of the attackers while the other two struck him. After being beaten, he was pushed through a shop window where he got back to his feet before Foyle produced a knife which is believed to have either been a machete or a hunting knife and swung it in the direction of the man's neck.
The victim raised his arms to shield himself which left him with "horrific" wounds on his hands and wrists. The gang then ran away and Jones and Griffiths went to a property on Carlton Terrace in the Mount Pleasant area of the city to change their blood stained clothes before they returned to the Eli Jenkins pub to keep on drinking.
Members of the public who witnessed what had happened pointed out the pair to the officers who were beginning their investigation on the scene of the stabbing. Foyle was arrested the following day at a property in Lime Street in Gorseinon.
When arrested and cautioned he replied: "I haven't done him that bad, have I?" The court heard that the innocent victim, who worked as a delivery driver may never regain full use of his hands after he suffered severe damage to the tendons and nerves in his hands and wrists.
In an emotional statement read out to the court he said he had been "mutilated" for the rest of his life and was suffering from nightmares following the terrifying attack which he thought was going to end his life. Ryan Foyle, of fixed abode, who had no previous convictions pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm (GBH) with intent and to possession of a bladed article when he appeared in the dock for sentencing.
Ashton Levi Jones, of fixed abode, and Dylan John Rhys Grifiths, of the Tudor Court Hotel, Oystermouth Road, Swansea, had both previously pleaded guilty to affray when they appeared alongside the co-defendant. Jones has a reprimand for assault when he was 12, and a caution for possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear.
Griffiths has a previous conviction for two robberies as a youth with both offences being committed on the same day when he robbed somebody outside a Sainsbury's store in Swansea then robbed a second person on nearby Princess Way. Anthony O'Connell, defending Foyle, said the defendant was unsure why he had behaved the way that he had. He said his client had a "troubled childhood" and was "hugely remorseful" for the life changing injuries he had caused on his victim.
The advocate added that after he served his inevitable lengthy custodial sentence, his client has aspirations to work alongside the police on programmes to help divert young people away from knife crime. Andrew Evans, defending Griffiths, revealed that at the time of the incident the defendant had an alcohol addiction at the young age of 20 and would need to take action to change the course of his life path he was taking.
He said it was detailed in the pre-sentence report how his client would benefit from developing the necessary tools and mechanisms needed to deal with the issues in his life. Steven Burnell, for Jones, said it was clear from the pre-sentence report on his client that the defendant deeply regrets being involved in the incident.
He said that the two months the father of two had spent in prison as he waited for sentencing had been a real eye opener for the 26 year old. Recorder Duncan Bould said the defendants had all been under the influence of alcohol and cannabis which had contributed to their need to seek out a physical altercation that afternoon.
He added that their assault on their innocent victim was "cowardly and persistent" and noted that the lack of interference from witnesses was a sign of how terrified members of the public are of aggressive young men. He told the defendants: "You enjoyed what you did. You enjoyed being in control.
"You enjoyed exercising violence on this man and nobody intervening." The recorder also referred to their interviews where none of the defendants possessed the "courage" to admit their actions and said in the pre sentence report they had maintained the lie that their victim had been the aggressor.
He added: "I can only assume your finding of regret and remorse is very recent, and is something to do with being in custody awaiting sentence." With a one-quarter discount for his guilty plea to GBH Foyle was sentenced to five years and seven months detention, and with a one-third discount for the weapon charge he was sentenced to 12 months which will both run concurrently making an overall sentence of five years and seven months.
With one-third discounts for their guilty pleas Griffiths and Jones were both sentenced to 22 months. The defendants will serve up to half their sentences in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.
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