Man taken hostage and beaten for two hours
A “VULNERABLE” man was taken hostage, attacked and filmed by two thugs who left him with bleeding on the brain after subjecting him to two hours of violence.
During the “inhumane” attack, the door to the room was barricaded with an armchair while the victim was subjected to a shocking onslaught that left him convinced he would die.
Newcastle Crown Court heard it happened in a communal living room in shared accommodation at Beach Road, South Shields, where Kier Ruffell and Lee Taylor were residents, along with their victim, last November.
Prosecutor Vince Ward told the court the victim was kept in the room from 8.08pm until 10.29pm.
“He was subjected to a sustained and prolonged attack at the hands of these two defendants,” Mr Ward said.
“He said it was Ruffell who started the violence and Taylor joined in.
“He said he had been kicked as he lay on the floor and that Ruffell had struck him with a chair. As they were assaulting him they were threatening to kill him. He believed he was going to die.
“The Crown says they subjected him to degradation by filming him and insulting him during that assault or immediately afterwards.” The court heard the victim was left with a laceration to his scalp, black eyes, chipped teeth and bruising to his back, shoulders and arms. A scan showed he had bleeding to the front area of the brain.
He was kept under observation in hospital for two days but treatment to te brain injury was not necessary.
The victim said he had been held “hostage”, described the attack as “inhumane” and said in a statement: “I begged them to let me go but they refused. They have shown no remorse.”
Mr Ward said the prosecution case is that he was “deliberately targeted as a vulnerable victim”.
Ruffell, 29, who has convictions for 112 previous offences and Taylor, 31, who has 23 previous convictions, both admitted assault and false imprisonment.
Recorder Chris Smith sentenced Ruffell to two years and one month behind bars and Taylor to 20 months.
The judge told them: “The victim was, in my judgement, particularly vulnerable. He has a dependency on alcohol and was imprisoned in that room.”
The court heard all three men had been drinking heavily in the hours before the attack.
Christopher Knox, for Ruffell, said he has ongoing drug and alcohol problems.
Glenn Gatland, for Taylor, said he played a “limited” part in the violence and said “he was absolutely drunk out of his mind”.