‘Boiling water’ attack
‘DANGEROUS’ MAN JAILED AFTER HOLDING DOWN VICTIM WHILE SCALDING LIQUID WAS POURED ON HIM
A 60-YEAR-OLD man has been given an extended jail sentence for his part in a shocking attack on a vulnerable man in his own home.
Brighouse man Robert Hylands had been ‘the driving force’ behind the early morning attack during which his teenage accomplice poured a kettle of boiling water over their victim’s ankle.
Judge Jonathan Rose, sitting at Bradford Crown Court, said it had been a targeted attack on the complainant, who was held down by Hylands after the pair had forced their way into his Brighouse home.
He said Hylands had enabled his young accomplice to carry out extreme violence on the complainant by holding him down while the scalding water was poured on him.
“It must have been horrendously painful for him,” noted the judge.
During the incident the man had his bank card stolen and threats were made to pour boiling water over his head next time.
Hylands, of Croft Place, Brighouse, admitted a charge of assault over the incident and was sentenced to 43 months in jail, but Judge Rose also decided that he was dangerous offender and imposed an extended licence period of four years.
Prosecutor Clare Walsh said Hylands’ previous criminal record included jail terms of 13 and 14 years for robbery and wounding with intent, as well as a six-year prison sentence for drug dealing.
At a previous court hearing – when the teenager was locked up for four years and six months for robbery, assault and possessing offensive weapons – the judge was told that the victim had suffered a burn to his ankle measuring about four centimetres by five centimetres.
In a statement the victim said he now thought about the incident over and over in his mind and described being in constant pain with his foot and struggling to put shoes and socks on.
Judge Rose was told that Hylands had already spent the equivalent of a 28-month jail sentence on remand and now suffered various health issues.
But he said Hylands was a dangerous man who was capable of committing offences of extreme violence and an extended sentence was called for in his case.