Two dangerous joyriders have been jailed for what’s been described as a “chaotic” criminal rampage in Aberdeen.
Keiran Gibbon, 24, pleaded guilty to a string of serious assaults, public order crimes and driving offences, including assault to severe injury and danger of life and using a car as a weapon to deliberately drive at people.
The High Court at Livingston was told his co-accused dad-of-two Adam Melzi, 23, had admitted car theft, dangerous driving and wilful fire-raising.
The accused, who both have lengthy criminal records, earlier pleaded guilty on the day of their trial to a total of 10 serious offences, including dangerous driving and wilful fire-raising.
The charges involving Gibbon were said to stem from an assault on him by males connected to the registered keeper of a white van.
The court heard that man’s mother was in her kitchen on March 16 2020 when she heard a “huge smash of glass” from her living room window and saw a large rock lying on the floor.
She looked out and saw Gibbon dressed in dark clothing with his hood up and his face masked. When she challenged him he shouted: “F**k off, I’ll torch your house!”
Ploughed into bus shelter
Later that night two brothers, who had earlier been seen getting out of the white van and allegedly assaulting Gibbon’s companion, were waiting in a bus shelter on Stoneywood Road when they saw Gibbon deliberately driving an Audi estate at them.
The car mounted the pavement and struck one man’s leg as he and his brother jumped away before crashing into the bus shelter. Gibbon and another man got out of the car wearing balaclavas.
The brothers sought refuge at a relative’s house in nearby Polo Gardens but were chased by around six males with poles in their hands.
The brothers held the front door closed as the males – armed with golf clubs, bolt cutters and metal poles, smashed windows.
In the early hours of the next morning witnesses saw Gibbon’s Audi repeatedly ramming the side of a man’s Skoda in Pitmedden Drive, pushing it backwards into a parked Vauxhall Zafira before he sped off.
Gibbon later used the Audi to deliberately damage an Audi S4 belonging to a man whose son allegedly owed the accused money.
Gibbon, who pleaded guilty to all the offences, admitted destroying his Audi by pouring accelerant over the seats before throwing in a lit match and setting it on fire. He also wilfully set fire to a van in Kincorth Circle on Wednesday March 18.
Baseball bat attack
The court was told that Gibbon turned up at the home of a man in Pitmedden Terrace on March 29 and challenged him to fight over a £500 debt. He threatened to set fire to the house with the occupants inside and to torch their Audi S4.
A month later, on April 27, Gibbon arranged via SnapChat to meet another man at Balnagask Circle for a fight.
While the man was at his Subaru Legacy speaking to Melzi he saw Gibbon approach carrying a baseball bat or pole which he used to smash the car’s windows and damage the bodywork.
Unable to start his car to escape, the man ran off chased by Gibbon who struck him on the head and body with the weapon.
He needed hospital treatment to have a large cut on his head closed with specialist skin glue.
Melzi pleaded guilty to stealing a red Vauxhall Corsa belonging to his girlfriend’s father on March 28, later telling her he had “torched it”.
The car was recovered undamaged by police three days later in a car park off James Street in Peterhead and officers found both Melzi and Gibbon in a property nearby.
Melzi also pleaded guilty to driving a Vauxhall Insignia dangerously around Aberdeen streets on March 31 while being chased by police with blue lights and sirens activated.
He drove at up to 80mph in a 20mph speed limit, ignored a keep left sign and drove on the opposing carriageway before executing a handbrake turn and speeding off, mounting a pavement and driving over grassed areas.
He admitted wilfully setting fire to the vehicle in Cornhill Terrace later the same night.
‘It was a chaotic time’
Michael Anderson, defending Gibbon, said his client was clearly at a crossroads in terms of how he chooses to proceed in the future.
He said: “He himself now has the ability to say to the author of the (social work) report that that was a chaotic time. He recognises a sentence of imprisonment will be imposed today.”
Kelly Dunning, advocate for Melzi, said he was trying to establish a dog breeding business so he could “avoid any criminal element” in future. She said a community sentence was available to the court.
Passing sentence, Judge Lord Woolford told Gibbon that, despite his relatively young age he had already acquired a “substantial record” including a previous conviction for dangerous driving from 2014.
He said: “These two assault charges mark an alarming escalation in your offending.
“Your record is studded with bail aggravations which illustrate the cynical disregard which you have displayed for our system of criminal justice.
“I’m satisfied with regard to the gravity of your offending and the need to protect the public from you that a substantial custodial sentence is required in your case.”
Imprisonment appropriate
Turning to Melzi he highlighted previous convictions at solemn and summary level, including one for dangerous driving for which the accused had received a custodial sentence.
He added: “I’ve come to the conclusion, particularly with regard to the gravity of the dangerous driving charges, that only a sentence of imprisonment is appropriate.”
Gibbon, of Farquhar Road, Aberdeen, was sentenced to 45 months in prison, backdated to May 1 2020, banned from driving for 18 months from November 11 and ordered to resit an extended driving test.
Melzi, of Nellfield Place, Aberdeen, was jailed for 13 months, disqualified from driving for 30 months from 11 November and also ordered to sit an extended driving test.
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