Month: October 2019

Fire torture maniac is sent to jail

Birmingham Mail | 15th May 2007 |

Brotherton…had been smoking strong cannabis when he hatched his plot to get even and that had clearly affected his thinking.

A MAN who set a friend on fire after dousing him with petrol before laughing as he burned was today beginning an indeterminate prison sentence.

Judge Robin Onions at Wolverhampton Crown Court told Adam Brotherton his vicious attack had been “chilling in its conception, remorseless in its execution and horrifying in its consequences.”

He ruled that 22-year-old Brotherton should spend at least ten years behind bars before being considered for parole.

He told Brotherton: “I have to impose a sentence for the protection of the public. You represent a significant risk of harm to the public.”

Gardener Ian Smith, was tied to a tree at a secluded Walsall beauty spot and stabbed twice before being callously set on fire by Brotherton, the court heard.

The 24-year-old suffered 64 per cent burns in the attack, which robbed him of the “quality” of his life and Broth-erton had simply abandoned him at the Lime Pits nature reserve.

Brotherton had taken revenge on Mr Smith, of Friary Crescent, Rushall, because he had “grassed” on him to police.

Mr Smith had given the homeless, unemployed Brotherton a bed for the night and he repaid his kindness by stealing property including a Playstation and games from his flat.

“He showed you nothing but kindness and you simply helped yourself to his property,” said the judge.

Brotherton, he added, had been smoking strong cannabis when he hatched his plot to get even and that had clearly affected his thinking.

John Attwood, prosecuting, told the court how Mr Smith’s life had been ruined by the terrible attack.

He said Mr Smith had enjoyed gardening, fishing, cycling and dogminding but was now unable to fend for himself.

He cannot feed himself or even wipe his own nose and his movements have been restricted by the burns he suffered.

“He cannot go anywhere without people staring at him. The district nurse has to go in every day to treat his wounds,” said Mr Attwood.

“He is very frustrated because he cannot do the things he wants to do. His sleep is disturbed, he gets flashbacks and he suffers bad dreams.”

Brotherton, of Lichfield Road, Walsall, had denied attempted murder but was convicted on a unanimous verdict by the jury at the end of his eight-day trial.

Brotherton, who has 37 previous convictions, maintained in court he was not responsible for the attack and was with friends smoking cannabis.

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/fire-torture-maniac-is-sent-to-jail-40879

 

Voodoo worshipper on skunk who stabbed his fiance in the head blamed ‘a spell’

Daily Mirror | 28th Sep 2019 |

Cannabis user Andrew Hunye claimed he was ‘under a spell’ when he attacked his partner at their home in east London

A voodoo worshipper who claimed he was under a spell when he stabbed his fiance in her head has been jailed.

Cannabis user Andrew Hunye, 33, almost killed Tessie Adeyemi when he attacked her with a kitchen knife after he had been smoking skunk at the couple’s home in Chadwell Heath, east London.

Wood Green Crown Court heard the victim heard him shouting at himself in the kitchen where she found him lying naked on the floor “speaking in tongues”.

He stood up, pointed at the ceiling, then gestured at her and said “I am God and you are the devil” before grabbing a knife from another room and stabbing her three times in the neck and the back of the head.

Afterwards he went out onto the communal landing and did a dance of celebration before returning to their flat for a quick shower.

Ms Adeyemi fled the flat and was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries.

The pair, who had booked tickets to Nigeria and Dubai to celebrate their wedding, were both religious and believe the knife attack was caused by a voodoo spell.

Ms Adeyemi, who suffers from  from facial paralysis since the attack, was supportive of Hunye throughout his trial and told the court they had a ‘good relationship’.

Hunye said in evidence: “I was not in a right state of mind, I had lost my mind, I was hearing voices.”

Psychiatrists told the court Hunye was not suffering from mental illness.

Judge David Aaronberg told him: “You and Ms Adeyemi have strong religious beliefs.

“You are both devoted Christians, you also both have traditional Nigerian beliefs regarding Voodoo or Juju.”

But the judge added: “English law does not recognise the concept of possession by an evil spirit”, he said.

He said that instead the attack resulted from “a combination of the beliefs and the consumption of skunk cannabis”.

He added: “If the defendant believed in it it might have impacted how he acted that day.”

Hunye denied any wrong doing but was convicted of attempted murder and jailed for 12-and-a-half years.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/voodoo-worshipper-skunk-who-stabbed-20320465

Jail for man who raped woman, 67, on her way to Christmas dance in Ayrshire

Scotsman | 26 June 2019 |

“On your own account, on the day in question you had been drinking alcohol and smoking cannabis and were angry.”

A sex attacker who brutally raped a pensioner as she made her way to a Christmas dance has been jailed for seven-and-a-half years .

James Black, 40, struck after the woman began walking through an unlit lane towards a hall in Saltcoats, Ayrshire.

A judge told Black: “You were convicted, on your own plea, of an extremely grave sexual offence, namely the rape to injury of a 67-year-old retired lady who was to all intents a stranger to you.”

Lord Arthurson said at the High Court in Edinburgh that the offence was “wholly despicable and utterly abhorrent”.

The judge said: “On your own account, on the day in question you had been drinking alcohol and smoking cannabis and were angry.”

He told Black, formerly of Stevenston, Ayrshire, that he would have faced a 10-year prison sentence but for his guilty plea.

The judge also ordered that Black should be kept under supervision for a further three years and warned that if he breached licence conditions during that period he could be returned to prison.

Black earlier admitted assaulting and raping the woman in December 8 last year at a lane at Canal Street, in Saltcoats.

During the attack he grabbed the victim, put an arm across her neck and struggled with her before putting his hands round her neck and forcing her to the ground.

Black pulled down the woman’s leggings and pants and forced her legs apart before raping her during the violent ordeal.

The sex attacker was later arrested in connection with another matter but told police: “That wisnae me. I chased a guy away from there.”

He then told a social worker that he had fallen out with his girlfriend, had followed someone, that something bad had happened and the woman was “very scared”.

Forensic scientists also found material linking Black to the attack on the woman who was unable to provide a description of the rapist.

Advocate depute Mark McGuire said that the woman travelled to Saltcoats to meet a relative and they went for a drink at a pub before she went to another bar on her way to the Christmas event.

After leaving the bar she began walking through the lane when Black approached her from behind and put his arm across her neck.

The woman struggled and tried to push him away but was forced to the ground. She kicked out to try to stop him taking off her boots, but he pulled down her pants and leggings and prised her legs apart.

The prosecutor said: “Nothing was said by either the accused or the complainer during the rape.”

Black fled following the sex attack and the woman went to the dance venue. She revealed what had happened to her to a barmaid and a taxi driver who encouraged her to contact the police.

She woke the following morning with pain in her back and thighs and saw her legs were bruised. She later spoke to a relative who called the police.

A trawl of CCTV footage showed the woman leaving a bar with a man following her a short time later. He was seen returning to the bar about half an hour later with a hand injury and dried blood on his head and hand.

The victim was found to have extensive bruising on her inner thighs, including finger mark imprints and injury to her genital area.

Defence counsel Lorraine Glancy said that alcohol and drugs have been “problematic issues” for Black in the past.

She said Black understood that a prison sentence was the only disposal available and added: “It is fair to say that he, upon his release into the community, will require close supervision.”

Black was placed on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely.

https://www.scotsman.com/news/crime/jail-for-man-who-raped-woman-67-on-her-way-to-christmas-dance-in-ayrshire-1-4954596