Teen thugs ‘celebrated’ battering dad three times over cigarette

A DAD was brutally attacked by two teenagers as he walked to work after they asked him for a cigarette.

The man, 44, couldn’t open his eyes due to the swelling after he was set upon in Bury.

The attack has left him unable to work, and he can’t look after his young daughter on his own.

Kain Corrigan, 18, and a 16-year-old boy, who can’t be named for legal reasons, have admitted section 18 assault.

The pair were seen to ‘embrace’ as if they were ‘celebrating’ after the attack, Manchester Crown Court heard.

They launched three separate attacks, leaving only to return and continue the assault.

The victim, who worked the night shift at a warehouse in Pilsworth, had taken two buses from his home and was walking the final part of his journey when he was attacked.

He was walking along School Street, a ‘secluded’ road near Pimhole Community Farm.

At about 10.30pm on July 24, he was approached by the two teenagers, and he recalled them asking whether he had a cigarette.

He told them he only had enough for himself, but the pair were ‘insistent,’ prosecutor Michael Lavery said.

The victim began to feel ‘under threat’ and ‘lunged out,’ pushing one of the defendants with his hand.

It was then that the pair launched the attack, raining blows on his head.

They were seen to leave the area, and began to ‘embrace’ as if they were ‘celebrating,’ Mr Lavery said.

The pair returned a few minutes later, and launched another attack.

They left and the victim tried to get up, only for them to return and set upon him for a third time.

A member of the public called 999 and told the operator how the victim was bleeding from his head.

“He’s in a f ****** bad way,” he told the call handler.

Judge Patrick Field QC said it was ‘unsurprising’ that the man who called 999 couldn’t tell the operator how old he thought the victim was, due to the injuries he suffered.

Doctors found he had suffered ‘extensive facial fractures’ and bleeds to the brain. His cigarettes and mobile phone were stolen during the attack.

Some of the incident was covered by CCTV. Earphones recovered from the scene were found to contain the DNA of the 16-year-old defendant.

The victim’s wife said the attack has turned their life ‘upside down.’

She said he suffers from short term memory problems and sometimes can’t remember his own date of birth, she said in a statement read to the court.

She said he is unable to work and can’t look after their two-year-old daughter on his own.

He has lost interest in his hobbies, including playing the guitar and watching football, she said.

The sentencing hearing was adjourned before mitigation on behalf of the defendants was advanced.

The judge ordered further medical reports into the victim’s condition to be compiled.

Corrigan, of Walmersley Road, Bury, and the 16-year-old are due to be sentenced in June.