A thug who taped a disabled man to his mobility scooter has returned to court after turning on his friend in a vicious and bloody attack.
Calvin Gallon, 23, beat Callum Swaffield, 19, with a baseball bat before striking him across the head with a bottle of Buckfast tonic wine.
Gallon, who pled guilty to the attack, then smashed the bottle over Swaffield’s head and stabbed him with the shards of broken glass, Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard.
They had both previously appeared in the dock last December after playing a cruel “prank” – inspired by a TV show called ‘Jackass’ – on disabled Macduff man John Tweed.
At the time, the terrified 59-year-old victim told The Press and Journal of his humiliation and revealed how he feared the pair were going to set him on fire.
On Friday, convicted criminal Swaffield turned victim in the case against Gallon, who also admitted committing further offences.
The charges included threatening someone with a claw hammer – only days after he was released early from prison for the outrageously nasty deed against Mr Tweed.
Sheriff Andrew Miller described Gallon’s latest law-breaking as “extremely concerning”.
He ordered the dangerous thug to be taken back to prison in order to serve the remaining days of his previous sentence, alongside a lengthy period of further jail time.
Fiscal depute David Rogers told the court that on the evening of April 27 this year, Swaffield was at a friend house’s in Banff.
He socialised there into the early hours of the next day.
Gallon, it was stated, was at another house nearby when he suggested they turn up at the house Swaffield was so they could obtain drugs.
“The accused and a friend then attended at the address at around 6-7am on April 28 this year,” Mr Rogers said.
“The accused entered the living room holding a claw hammer in his right hand, which was approximately 10-15cm in length.
“He held the hammer above the head of Swaffield’s friend and repeatedly shouted, ‘Give me the money’ and, ‘Give me the f****** money’.
“The man initially replied that he didn’t have any money but eventually took his wallet out of his pocket and handed the accused around £200 in cash.”
Gallon also snatched around seven grams of a controlled drug called mephedrone or ‘M-CAT’ from the man, later telling others that he’d been given it because Swaffield’s friend was “scared” of him.
Gallon announced he was going to ‘beat Callum Swaffield up’
Swaffield remained at the home of his friend until the following day, April 29, when they were all drinking and taking controlled drugs, Mr Rogers said.
Gallon returned around 2.30am and immediately began to antagonise Swaffield, who tried to ignore him.
As a friend arrived to take Swaffield home, Gallon announced that he was going to “beat Callum Swaffield up with a baseball bat”.
Swaffield was then grabbed by a group of people who dragged him outside the property where Gallon repeatedly hit his head and shoulders with a baseball bat.
“The accused then seized an empty bottle of Buckfast and struck Swaffield twice on the head with the bottle, causing the bottle to smash,” Mr Rogers said.
“Once the bottle had smashed, the accused used the broken glass to stab Callum Swaffield on the head.”
Swaffield then fled the scene in a car and Gallon returned to the house where he boasted that he had broken a bottle over Swaffield’s head and “stabbed him with it”.
Lacerations and blood loss
Concerned about the volume of blood that was being lost by Swaffield, his friend stopped the car and called an ambulance.
He was taken to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary where he was examined and found to have a 7cm-long laceration to his face and a 5cm laceration to his head.
Gallon pleaded guilty to one charge of assault by brandishing a hammer and a second charge of being in possession of an offensive weapon.
He also admitted an additional third charge of assault with a baseball bat and a glass bottle.
Gallon’s defence solicitor Alannah Comerford told the court that her client had a “very serious record for such an age” and that she acknowledged that this was “a very serious matter”.
Days before the offences, Gallon had been released from HMP Grampian with “very little support,” Ms Comerford claimed.
“He was prescribed anti-psychotic medication but went cold turkey and started self-medicating with illicit substances and having dark thoughts.
“He went off the rails, for want of a better term. Mr Gallon has not shied away from his behaviour in any way. He is remorseful and he regrets what he did.
“He has asked me to expressly apologise to the complainers involved,” she added.
‘Your record is extremely concerning’
Sheriff Miller described Gallon’s actions as “a very concerning sequence of offending”.
He went on: “Your record is also extremely concerning, despite your youth, and includes a number of convictions for violence.
“These latest offences were committed nine or ten days after you were released from a period of imprisonment.”
The sheriff sent Gallon, whose address was given as HMP Grampian, back to prison to serve 265 days of an unexpired portion of jail time, also adding 684 days to his sentence.
He’ll be locked up for a total period of two years and six months.
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