An Aberdeen drug addict has been jailed for 36 months after he helped abduct a pair of men and then robbed them at knifepoint.
Harry Merchant, along with his brother Joseph, targeted the men, who were walking along the Spital in Aberdeen, and threatened to stab them if they didn’t get into their car.
The victims were then forced to hand over their belongings – including phones, wallets, watches and a jacket – before they were dropped off nearby.
But the brothers were soon caught after one of them left their DNA on a wallet and a stolen Apple Watch was tracked to an address on Urquhart Road.
Harry Merchant, 42, has now been jailed for 36 months for his part in the offence, but he’ll serve no more than three months behind bars because he’s been held at HMP Grampian in Peterhead since September last year.
Those 15 months are the equivalent of a 30-month sentence. Once he’s released early next year, he’ll serve a 12-month supervised release order.
Fiscal depute Ruaridh McAlister previously told Aberdeen Sheriff Court that the incident happened at 12.15am on September 18 last year.
At the time, the victims were walking home along the Spital after socialising at a friend’s house.
Mr McAlister said: “During their walk home, a red car came out of a side street and pulled over beside them.
“They heard a male voice state something similar to, ‘We have got a knife. Get in or we’ll stab you’.”
Three men were visible in the car, with Harry Merchant in the front passenger seat holding a “metal implement” around six to eight inches long, which he pointed at the men.
Another male, seated in the rear of the car, pointed a “long object” at the pair and was heard to say: “Get in or we’re coming out”.
‘Give me what you’ve got’
The two “shocked men” were ordered and got into the vehicle and when one man tried to open the locked back door, Harry Merchant the other to “give him everything”.
He handed over his iPhone, Apple Watch, wallet – containing all his bank cards – and his North Face jacket.
Harry Merchant then turned to the first victim, grabbed his neck and “placed a cold metal item to his neck,” before demanding: “Give me what you’ve got”.
Harry Merchant threatened to put the metal item into the first complainer’s face before the third man, who has not been identified, began patting down his pockets and took his iPhone.
The car stopped on Urquhart Place and both of the victims were told to get out.
Snared by DNA on wallet
Joseph Merchant, 46, then rolled down the window and gave the second complainer his jacket and wallet back.
They later reported the incident to the police.
The second victim told police that his stolen Apple Watch was showing as active in the vicinity of an address on Urquhart Road.
When officers spoke to witnesses there, who had the watch, they were informed it had been given to them by Harry Merchant.
Both brothers pled guilty to two charges of abduction, assault and robbery.
‘Heavy drug intoxication’
Harry Merchant’s defence agent Kevin Longino said his client had used his time behind bars wisely and was now accessing drug and alcohol services to address his 30-year cycle of drug misuse.
“That misuse had very clearly come to a crescendo in lockdown when these offences happened,” the solicitor said.
“He was thinking of no one but himself.
“He has been in custody for 15 months and he has not been doing nothing. He has sat down and had a very long, hard look at himself and done what he can to address his offending behaviour and drug behaviour.
“He wants to be a useful member of both society and his family again. He wants to care for his daughter. That’s a massive change for him. He is no longer self-centred.”
The court heard Merchant has organised drug rehabilitation support upon his release.
‘It must have been a terrifying experience’
“He is the most focused and honest I can ever remember having seen him,” Mr Longino added.
Sheriff Morag McLaughlin said he had taken “significant steps” to improve himself and she hoped that could continue going forward however a custodial sentence was “inevitable”.
“It must have been a terrifying experience for the gentlemen involved,” she added.
Harry Merchant, a prisoner of HMP Grampian, was sentenced to 36 months in prison, backdated to his remand date, and a 12-month supervised release order.
Joseph Merchant, of St Fitticks Road, Aberdeen, admitted two further charges – one of assault and robbery and one of assault to injury and robbery – and will be sentenced on Friday, December 16.
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