A York man has been jailed for more than two years after he broke a man’s nose and eye socket in a “completely unprovoked” street attack.
He then tried to scare his victim out of pursuing a court case.
Ian Shields, 37, set upon the named victim simply because he believed he had stared at him, York Crown Court heard.
Shields struck the man with four “hard” blows to the face on Nunthorpe Road, knocking him to the ground, breaking his nose and eye socket and leaving him “covered in blood” as a passing schoolboy with his mother went to his aid.
Days later, following Shields’ arrest, the victim was again walking down Nunthorpe Road, towards Scarcroft Road, when Shields drove past in his car.
An unknown man in the passenger street got out of the vehicle, ran up to the victim and demanded that he dropped the charges against Shields, who was duly arrested again.
Shields was charged with causing actual bodily harm and witness intimidation. He denied the offences but was found guilty of both counts following a six-day trial in September.
He appeared for sentence today (Friday).
Punched in the face
Prosecutor Beatrice Allsop said the attack occurred in April last year when the victim was walking towards Scarcroft Road and crossing a junction where Shields was in his car.
As he crossed the road, he heard “running footsteps” behind him, was grabbed by the hood of his jacket and pulled backwards. He was punched four times in the face and “knew something had broken”.
When he asked Shields “what was that about?”, his attacker responded: “That’s what you get for looking at me.”
Shields then ran off into an alleyway.
The victim was treated for a broken nose and eye socket at York Hospital and also suffered bruising and swelling to his face. His nasal bone was “severely deviated”, making if difficult to breathe.
A few days later, on 28 April, Shields was quizzed by police and bailed, on condition that he had no contact with the victim.
However, on 13 May, the victim was again walking down Nunthorpe Road when Shields drove past him again.
Terrified, he crossed the road “to get somewhere safe” but then the car slowed down and stopped.
Shields’ passenger got out of the vehicle, ran up to him and shouted: “You need to drop the charges.”
The unidentified man pointed towards Shields in the car, and tried to take photos of the victim who turned around to block the camera’s view of his face.
The passenger ran back to the car as the victim called police.
Shields then reversed the car back down the street in the direction of the victim who sought refuge in the Sainsbury’s store where he waited for police to arrive.
The victim was sure that they had been “actively looking for him, to put him in fear” because it was just a few days before an ID parade to prove that Shields was the man who had attacked him.
Shields, of Gascoigne Walk, was arrested again on suspicion of witness intimidation but exercised his right to silence.
‘Really proud of yourself’
In a statement read out by the prosecution, the victim, who is a father, said he had since undergone two operations to straighten his nose and realign his septum to improve his breathing, which had left him in “considerable pain”, with two black eyes and facial swelling, and forced him to take three weeks off work.
He said he didn’t want his family to see him in that state and didn’t want to leave home.
Ms Allsop said Shields had 35 previous offences on his record including shoplifting and failing to surrender.
Defence barrister Glenn Parsons said that Shields, a father-of-four who worked as a dry liner, had not been in trouble for ten years before the attack and had “put his life together, built a life and a family, a career”.
Judge Sean Morris told Shields: “You were convicted of assaulting an innocent man who you thought had been staring at you and, for no good reason, you punched him again and again and again and again in the street, in broad daylight
“And having put him to the ground, covered in blood, you were really proud of yourself.
“Having damaged him in that way, you went on to compound your crime by seeking to intimidate him. The overwhelming inference had to be that you knew he was about to go on an ID parade.
“That is an extremely serious matter. The courts will not tolerate gangsterism on the streets of this country.”
Shields was jailed for two years and one month.