Thug jailed after vicious attack
A VULNERABLE drug addict suffered life-threatening injuries when she was viciously attacked in Brighouse by a “paranoid” thug who had trapped her in debt.
Daniel Geddes, of Rosemary Close in Rastrick, had given the woman amounts of £20 at a time to buy crack cocaine but after he charged extortionate “loan shark” rates of interest that debt had increased to between £1,500 and £2,400.
Bradford Crown Court heard that in the days leading up to the attack, the 45-year-old drug user had become increasingly desperate to get the money and the Recorder of Bradford Judge
Richard Mansell QC said Geddes was behaving like “paranoid psychotic crack addict”.
In a menacing text message, Geddes threatened she would “lose an eye” when he became convinced the woman was trying to get out of repaying the debt.
In the violent attack in a ginnel in March, Geddes jumped with full force on his slightlybuilt victim twice as she lay helpless on the ground and produced a butcher’s meat cleaver which he held above his head. Geddes ordered the woman to show him her neck, in what the judge said was a clear threat to cut her head off, then grabbed her leg as if to chop off her ankle. Another man with Geddes told him to stop and they fled, but the injured victim was so scared of reporting the incident she spent two days in agony at home struggling to breathe.
When she eventually went to hospital, doctors said she had a displaced rib fracture which had punctured her lung. Judge Mansell QC said it had been a life-threatening injury which could have killed the woman if she had not gone to hospital when she did.
Geddes, who had refused to come to court from prison, was found guilty by a jury of causing grievous bodily harm with intent and jailed for 10 years. Judge Mansell imposed an indefinite restraining order which bans Geddes from contacting his victim or witnesses, who the judge said had had the courage to come forward and bring the defendant to justice.
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