4:00pm Sunday 5th September 2010
TWO brothers who left a man unconscious after they assaulted him on his own doorstep have been warned they face the prospect of a lengthy jail term.
David and Stuart Todd feared they had killed their victim after setting about him with a broom handle in a revenge attack.
And one of them raised his hands in the air and yelled ‘retribution’ as they left the scene in November last year.
The brothers had denied they went to the house of John McSharry following an earlier incident in a Highworth pub which left one of them injured.
David, 21, and Stuart, 26, said they walked past by chance as they took a long route home fearing they could face further attack from friends of Mr McSharry.
But after hearing evidence a judge sitting at Swindon crown court found they had lied about what happened.
Recorder Richard Smith QC said he found they had gone deliberately to the house on Queens Avenue and gone to the door.
After making threats to his wife, who answered the door, he said they attacked Mr McSharry when he appeared holding a broom handle.
They took the pole away from him and used it to strike him and also rained kicks on him leaving him unconscious.
Had Mr McSharry, who did not make a complaint to the police, stayed inside and dialled 999 the judge said the incident may never have escalated.
The judge also rejected the brothers’ claim that McSharry had come flying out of the house at them and that they only assaulted him after going too far in self defence.
He said: “He was left unconscious: one of the defendants commented they thought he was dead.”
The judge said he accepted the evidence of a neighbour who witnessed the event and said he saw one of the attackers turn as they walked away, raise his arms in the air, and yell ‘retribution’.
The Todds, of Home Farm, Highworth, pleaded guilty to actual bodily harm.
Chris Oswold, defending, asked for the probation service to compile pre-sentence reports on his clients and for them to remain on bail.
The judge agreed but warned them that they faced the prospect of a lengthy jail term when they are sentenced.
He said “It was a premeditated attack on a man outside his house at night with a weapon.
“The tariff says it should be a substantial sentence on the facts.”
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