Two Fraserburgh men have been found guilty of abducting and burning a 17-year-old boy with a red-hot iron following a three-day trial.
Jodie Forman, 33, and Bobby Hendry, 31, stood trial at Aberdeen Sheriff Court accused of befriending a teenager at a party before taking him back to a flat where they bound him and held a hot iron to his body.
Forman also faced a separate charge of stabbing a 21-year-old in the foot before searing his arm with a hot iron.
It took a jury of 11 women and four men less than an hour and a half to return a verdict of guilty in respect of both men.
Foreman was found guilty by unanimous verdict on both charges, while Hendry was found guilty by majority verdict.
Upon the verdict being handed down, the court heard that Forman has several previous convictions for violent assaults dating back to 2007.
Hendry also has previous convictions for violent offending.
Sheriff Andrew Millar described both charges as “very serious offences”.
“The ladies and gentlemen of the jury have found you guilty of these offences, ” he said.
“Charge one, in particular, is of a disturbing character involving the abduction of a young man who you then assaulted by burning his arm with an iron.
“Charge two is also an extremely serious matter where you burned your victim and stabbed him with a knife.”
Sheriff Millar deferred sentence on both men until next month in order for a criminal justice social work report to be carried out.
He remanded Forman and Hendry in custody until their sentence date.
Both men had ‘criminal purpose’
During the opening day of the trial, the court heard evidence that the men were initially friendly with the teen before allegedly flipping “like a switch” and tying him to the chair with masking tape across the legs, body and face.
The teenager, who is now 19, claimed he was “petrified” as an iron was placed on his skin, causing the hair on his arms to “sizzle”.
The second man told the court that Forman stabbed him in the foot with a kitchen knife for “being cheeky” before producing a red-hot iron and burning his forearm.
Fiscal depute Lynne MacVicar told the jury during final speeches that Forman and Hendry took part in a “concerted attack” upon the 17-year-old victim and that both men had “associated themselves with a criminal purpose”.
She asked the jury to consider whether the pair’s actions had started as a joke or whether there was “something more sinister involved”.
Ms MacVicar said: “Bobby Hendry jumped on him, was tying him down, was aggressive and had his knee on the lower part of his stomach – and both accused had been speaking while he was bound.
“He was unable to move his hands or feet and Jodie Forman told him not to move.
“He said both men held him down and Jodie Forman put the iron on him – leaving him with a burn for months.
“It was a burn he covered up with a tattoo on his 18th birthday so he wouldn’t be reminded of the incident.”
‘An unusual way to assault another individual’
The fiscal depute also encouraged the jury to consider the similarities between the first and second incidents.
The victim in the latter claimed Forman stabbed him in the foot with a kitchen knife before producing a red-hot iron and burning his forearm.
The incident, which is alleged to have occurred around six weeks after the assault on the teenager, was described by Ms MacVicar as “brutal”.
She said: “Both alleged crimes were committed at Jodie Forman’s home and in a short time frame.
“On both occasions, alcohol and drugs were being consumed.
“There was a turning of events on both dates and both men spoke of Jodie Forman’s front door is locked.
“And perhaps most remarkably of all, both complainers speak to Jodie Forman putting a hot iron to their arm – you might consider that an unusual way to assault another individual.”
Forman’s defence agent Iain Jane focused on the inaccuracies in both the evidence and police statements given by the teenager and witness Liam Ramsey, who he described as a “self-confessed liar”.
Sam Milligan, Hendry’s defence solicitor, also highlighted the fact that witness Liam Ramsey has given an initial false police statement in relation to this alleged incident.
Upon the jury delivering their verdict, Sheriff Miller thanked the men and women for their service.
