Judge sends ‘scally’ to jail for attacking neighbour
HE STRUCK MAN SEVERAL TIMES, TELLING HIM HE WAS GOING TO KILL HIM
A DERBY thug was labelled a “scally” by a judge as he sent him to prison for attacking his neighbour.
Connor McHugh, who has previous convictions for GBH, grabbed a plastic tree from its ceramic base and told his victim: “I am going to kill you.”
The 24-year-old then angrily walked over to the man and struck him “five or six times” with it.
The neighbour suffered cuts to the top of his head from the assault, as well as bruising to his arms, where he tried to defend himself.
After being jailed for seven months, McHugh asked the judge to guarantee he will get help from the authorities when he is released.
He said: “Every time I am released I don’t get the help I need.
“I don’t know whether I am coming or going. I’m left to my own devices.”
Julia King, prosecuting at Derby Crown Court, said the attack happened outside a block of flats in Sidney Street, Derby, at around 7.15pm on May 22 last year.
She said the victim walked past McHugh who was sitting with a second man on a bench close to the victim’s flat.
Miss King said McHugh asked his neighbour if he was a police officer and if he was responsible for “locking up” one of his friends.
She said the neighbour asked McHugh to move away from the area and then slapped him to the face with an open palm.
Miss King said: “The defendant became angry and spat at the complainant and said he was going to kill him.
“He picked up a plastic plant which was in a ceramic pot and walked towards the victim saying ‘I am going to kill you.’
“He then struck him with the plant about seven times requiring him to raise his arms to protect himself.”
McHugh, who moved Brighton, was arrested in Sussex when his DNA was matched to the plastic tree he used to assault his Derby victim with.
His previous offending dates back to when he was a youth and includes two separate GBH convictions as well as drug offences, ABH, assault and criminal damage.
Jailing him, Judge Shaun Smith said: “I hope you don’t mind me saying but you’re a scally that likes drink and drugs who gets himself to in situations where you use violence.
“If you had hit the victim with the ceramic pot you might be up for more serious allegations. “On this particular day you did not cover yourself in glory, you seemed adamant to have an argument with this man.” Will Bennett, for McHugh, said his client suffered from ADHD and PTSD, having suffered “a horrific childhood”. He said: “The defendant says he was slapped and that was the trigger. People that are damaged as children seem to develop these hard shells where they react without thinking.”
You’re a scally that likes drink and drugs who gets himself in situations where you use violence.
Judge Shaun Smith