Two yobs who battered a Dundee man with a brush, fractured his skull and left him with internal bleeding have been jailed.
Paul Coombs, 20, and Connor McInearney, 19, were locked up for a total of more than four years at Dundee Sheriff Court on Thursday.
The court heard the thugs hit Rhys Todd so hard on the head with a broom that it snapped in two.
They carried out their attack in Arklay Street as Mr Todd waited on a bus with his girlfriend Victoria Bell.
McInearney, of Balmullo Place, shouted out to Mr Todd, thinking he was someone else he knew.
Mr Todd was in fact unknown to either McInearney or Coombs, of North George Street, so he ignored their shouts, causing them to run over to him and launch their attack.
Fiscal depute Kerry Wilson said: “McInearney struck him with a brush with such force that it broke.
“The two accused together with other males continued to punch and kick him.
“Members of the public offered their assistance and emergency services were called.
“Mr Todd had blood coming from his ears and he appeared confused.”
He was rushed to A&E at Ninewells Hospital by ambulance where doctors discovered he had a fracture to the temporal bone of the skull and internal bleeding as a result of the attack.
McInearney and Coombs both admitted a charge of acting together to assault Rhys Todd by attempting to strike him with a brush causing him to fall to the ground, repeatedly punching and kicking him on the head and body, and striking him on the head with a brush, all to his severe injury, in Arklay Street, on August 7.
Solicitor Gary McIlravey, defending McInearney, said: “Mr McInearney’s pattern of previous offending came to an abrupt halt with this offence.
“He has completely reinvented himself since.
“He has changed his lifestyle and turned his life around.”
Solicitor John Boyle, defending Coombs, added: “Mr Coombs is in no doubt about the likely disposal in this case.”
Sheriff Tom Hughes jailed McInearny for two years and six months, and he jailed Coombs for one year and nine months.
The sheriff said: “The way you acted that night was totally unreasonable.
“You acted in a barbaric manner.
“The result of your assault left your victim with serious injuries — you must realise a custodial sentence is inevitable.”
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