Drinkers flee in terror as machete gang storm pub
DRINKERS were left terrified after masked men burst into a pub and launched a horrifying machete attack.
One of the balaclava-clad attackers was Joshua Olumuyiwa, who drove to the The Park pub in Northern Moor where his ex-girlfriend worked and lived as pub manager.
She was outside with friends when the terrifying incident unfolded on a Friday night.
Olumuyiwa, 30, said ‘where are you, you slag,’ as he and two other men emerged from a car and chased the group into the boozer, at about 11pm on October 8 last year.
Manchester Crown Court heard that the pair had been in a relationship for six years before they split in May that year. She was outside the pub having a cigarette when Olumuyiwa turned up in a Toyota with two other men, all wearing black balaclavas.
Olumuyiwa was armed with a machete, and one of the other men had a bat. Olumuyiwa was ‘swinging’ the terrifying weapon while shouting ‘what is it, what is it’ and threatening to kill her. He hit his ex with the machete, to the side of her face.
She was left covered in blood as Olumuyiwa tried to hit her again. One man was hit to the head with an unknown object and repeatedly punched, suffering a suspected broken nose.
After a friend intervened she was able to run to the living quarters of the pub and barricade herself to safety, away from her attacker. Glasses were smashed and table and chairs were upturned before the attackers left in the car, prosecutor Clare Thomas said.
The pub was left in a scene of devastation following the horrifying ordeal, which lasted about a minute. Olumuyiwa was arrested about four hours later, while hiding in a garden as he tried to flee from police.
The woman suffered a gash to her head which has left a permanent scar and she has since left her job and no longer lives at the pub. “She says she
was terrified,” the judge said of the victim.
Prosecutors alleged that Olumuyiwa, who has 22 previous convictions, had been ‘violent’ during their relationship.
Police were called previously and he was arrested on suspicion of ‘making threats to her’ before being released on bail, the court heard. His behaviour was characterised by jealousy and control, the court heard.
Defending, Timothy Ashmole said Olumuyiwa wants to apologise for his actions and wants to ‘change his ways.’ Sentencing, Recorder Neil Usher described the incident as a ‘planned, determined, terrifying episode of serious and sustained violence.’
He ruled that Olumuyiwa is a ‘dangerous’ offender and imposed an extended sentence. Olumuyiwa must serve two-thirds of a seven-and-a-half year sentence in prison, before he can be considered for release by the Parole Board.
The judge also imposed an extended three year period on licence. Olumuyiwa, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to section 18 wounding, violent disorder and possession of a blade.