A disabled man feared he would be set on fire by “cruel” tormenters who threw a bed sheet over him and taped him to his mobility scooter, claiming the act was inspired by a TV prank show.
Calvin Gallon, 23, and Callum Swaffield, 18, targetted the vulnerable man when he got onto his scooter for some fresh air outside his home in Macduff, Aberdeenshire.
The pair threw a bed sheet over him and tightly wrapped brown parcel tape around the helpless man’s head and body, leaving him trapped.
Gallon was heard to say “I’m going to send this to Valhalla!” and the alarmed man fearfully asked: “Are you going to set this on fire?”
The nasty pair tried to spell the words “I am a paedo” by sticking pieces of brown tape onto the bed sheet and Gallon later told police that it was all just “a bit of a laugh”.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard that Gallon and Swaffield’s victim was left “visibly upset” and “publicly embarrassed” by the incident.
Fiscal depute Carol Gammie told the court that, on the morning of July 18 this year, the man went to use his mobility scooter but found it covered in rice and eggs.
Later that day, he left his home to get some fresh air, but he became aware of Gallon and Swaffield coming toward him.
The pair then threw a bed sheet over the man as he sat on the scooter and began wrapping him in parcel tape around the head and body.
Gallon shouted: “I’m going to send this to Valhalla!”
Frightened by the statement, the disabled man then asked: “Are you going to set this on fire?”
Ms Gammie told the court the man was unable to fight off his attackers due to having “no strength in his arms” and being disabled from the waist down.
She said Gallon was seen attempting to spell out “I am a paedo” in tape on the sheet as the disabled man sat bound and terrified.
Victim was ‘upset and ’embarrassed’
Luckily, neighbours, who weren’t aware that the disabled man was on his mobility scooter, saw what the two men were doing to it and called the police.
When officers arrived, Gallon and Swaffield fled the scene.
“It was then that the officers noticed there was someone under the sheet who was unable to get it off due to their disability,” Ms Gammie said.
“The complainer stated that, if the neighbours hadn’t called the police, he would have been stuck there for some time.”
Police soon tracked down the pair and Gallon, who has at least two previous convictions for assault, told them that he considered the incident “a bit of a laugh” and “a prank”.
But Ms Gammie said their victim was left “visibility upset” and “publicly embarrassed”.
Gallon and Swaffield pleaded guilty to one charge of behaving in a threatening and abusive manner by covering their victim with a bed sheet and securing him with tape to prevent his escape.
Gallon also admitted a further charge of behaving in a threatening manner by turning up at another man’s home and throwing a rock through his window, before striking a door with a knife and breaking a plant pot on May 27 this year.
He also pleaded guilty to being in possession of a knife three days later.
‘A practical joke based on the Jackass film’
Iain Jane, Gallon’s defence agent, told the court that the pair had been inspired to carry out the attack on their disabled neighbour by a reality TV prank show and film called “Jackass”.
He said: “Mr Gallon says this was supposed to be a practical joke based on the Jackass film. No harm was intended to the complainer.
“I have said this to Mr Gallon – I don’t see the joke and I don’t see what was supposed to be gained by this high jinx.
“Mr Gallon doesn’t seem to be able to explain why it would be funny and I just don’t see how anyone could find this matter to be funny under any circumstances.”
An apparently remorseless Swaffield was captured on camera giving the thumbs up to a press photographer as he left Aberdeen Sheriff Court on Thursday.
His defence solicitor Marianne Milligan had called for reports into her client’s background to be carried out and considered before he is sentenced.
Sheriff Morag McLaughlin told the pair she hoped they had “had time to reflect on this”.
She added: “This is not only not funny, but it is also an awful thing to hear about happening to someone who is disabled.
“It is a particularly cruel thing to do to someone like that.”
Sheriff McLaughlin jailed Gallon, whose address was given as HMP Grampian, for 18 months.
Gallon was also given a non-harassment order, meaning he must stay away from the disabled man for two years.
The sheriff also called for a criminal justice social work report and restriction of liberty order to be carried out on Swaffield, of Alvah, Banff, prior to his sentencing.
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