Three men who pulled a cyclist from his electric bike in Cardiff, beat him in the street and recorded the attack on a mobile phone have been jailed. The incident happened on Croyde Avenue in Llanrumney, where Aiden Thomas, Kian McGuire and Riley Tulloch attacked the victim, knocking him off his bike before punching him in the face and kicking him to the body.
The trio then made off with the bike in an incident described by a judge as degrading and humiliating. Sentencing the defendants at Cardiff Crown Court, Judge Lucy Crowther said they had acted like "thugs" and subjected their victim to what must have been a terrifying experience.
Attack details
Matthew Comer, prosecuting, told the court that at around 10.30pm on June 30 last year the complainant was riding his electric bicycle on Croyde Avenue when he was spotted by the three defendants. The three went after the cyclist and stopped his bike, with one of them grabbing the handlebars.
The court heard that the complainant was then punched in the face and went to the floor, and McGuire, Tulloch and Thomas then repeatedly punched and kicked him. McGuire recorded the incident on his phone and then took the victim's phone and smashed it on the floor before the three defendants made off with the bike.
Victim impact
The victim suffered cuts and bruises to his arms, legs, and body, lumps on his head, and a swollen lip. In an impact statement read to the court, the victim said the bike had been a gift from his parents and that it had been his "independence" and his means of getting to work.
He said the "violence and fear" of that night had lived with him ever since, and that he was still struggling to cope with the emotional consequences of what happened. The complainant said he had eventually been forced to move to a different area of Cardiff away from his friends and family such was his anxiety.
He added that the defendants had not just taken his property but his "sense of safety, independence, and peace of mind". "I have lost a part of the person I used to be," he said.
Sentencing
McGuire, 19, of May Street, Cathays; Tulloch, 18, of Louisa Place, Cardiff Bay; and 20-year-old Aiden Thomas, of Arlington Road, Sully, Vale of Glamorgan, had all previously pleaded guilty to robbery. McGuire had also previously pleaded guilty to criminal damage in relation to the victim's phone. Tulloch and Thomas entered their pleas on the first day of their trial.
McGuire has one previous conviction for an offence of causing actual bodily harm from August last year for which he was given a youth referral order. Tulloch has no previous convictions, while Thomas has one conviction from March last year for possession of cannabis for which he was given a conditional discharge.
William Bebb, for McGuire, said it was clear from the pre-sentence report that his client had a "skewed position on masculinity" and needs to take responsibility for his actions. He said the report detailed McGuire's "difficult upbringing" and how he had "surrounded himself by individuals who have impacted him negatively". The barrister added that the defendant's partner was due to give birth in January and impending fatherhood "will necessitate an acceleration of maturity", and he invited the court to pass a sentence which would allow probation to work with him.
Hashim Salmman, for Tulloch, said since the incident the defendant had been living with his grandfather in an area away from previous influences and had more stability in his life. He said there was a "significant disparity between the defendant's chronological age and his level of maturity", and he said he had expressed remorse for his actions. The advocate added that his client had been offered a carpentry traineeship and he invited the court to pass a sentence which was not one of immediate custody.
Kristen Murphy, for Thomas, said her client had had a "bright future" in football and had been part of the Newport County and Bristol City set ups before being released at the age of 16, something which "left him feeling rejected and without direction" and led to him "mixing with the wrong crowd" and using cannabis. She said Thomas was remorseful for his actions, and said he had the possibility of a job in the steel works in Cardiff where his father had worked for 20 years.
Judge Crowther told the trio they had "acted like thugs" when they pursued and attacked the complainant. She said McGuire had recorded much of the incident "in a further act of degradation and humiliation". The judge said the complainant sustained bruises and cuts "from head to foot", and told the defendants that though they may have played different roles in the robbery they were all equally responsible. She said offences such as the one carried out by the defendants "strike at the heart of the community" and create fear for law-abiding members of the public.
With a 17 per cent discount for his guilty plea, McGuire was sentenced to 29 months detention in a young offenders institution, while with a 10 per cent discount for their guilty pleas Tulloch was sentenced to 25 months detention and Thomas to 29 months detention. The defendants will serve 40 per cent of their sentences in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community, and the qualifying time each has spent on electronic tagged curfew will be deducted from the time they serve. In the case of McGuire that's 210 days, while it's 225 days for both Tulloch and Thomas.
