'You thought he was dead': thug who dumped man at Northampton park 'believed he'd committed murder'

That was the conclusion of a judge at Northampton Crown Court yesterday, who was sentencing Ryan Smith, 24, formerly of Dorset Road, Kingsthorpe, for GBH.

Smith had invited his 27-year-old victim, Twaha Yahaya, back to his home after they had been drinking together at Kingsthorpe Rec on August 8, 2018.

For an unknown reason, Smith decided to launch an attack on Mr Yahaya, punching him so he fell down the staircase of the house and kicking him.

He then lifted his near-lifeless body into a discarded shopping trolley and wheeled Mr Yahaya back to the park, off Nursery Lane, where he left him.

Sentencing Smith Judge Michael Fowler said that after the attack, the defendant had taken steps consistent with somebody who thought they had committed murder, including disposing of his clothes.

The judge said : "My belief is that after you had used violence on Twaha Yahaya you thought you had inflicted mortal injuries and that was why you went to great lengths to remove his body to the park."

Judge Fowler said that Smith made no great effort to get Yahaya treatment and his actions after the attack may have made the victim's injuries worse.

"To move somebody in the condition this man was in created a risk of even greater harm," Judge Fowler said.

"You rang the emergency services but you gave up in anger and in drink. You left him there not knowing whether he was going to be found or get treatment."

Gary Short, for the Crown, summed up Mr Yahaya's injuries as a fracture to the back of his head, bleeding alongside his brain, a collapsed lung and a fractured eye socket.

He lay in hospital for six weeks - four weeks of which was spent in a coma - and four-and-a-half months in the Central England Rehabilitation Unit in Leamington Spa.

Mentally, he is still not recovered and has problems assessing risks, problem solving, has poor insight, and "remains with a level of cognitive impairment."

A victim impact statement written by Mr Yahaya's mum, Zainab, was read to the court, which said: "We have to go everywhere he goes because he can't be left alone. He was become totally withdrawn."

Concluding that Smith had kicked Mr Yahaya while wearing shoes, Judge Fowler accepted that attacking "with a shod foot" was the same as attacking him with a weapon.

Despite Smith saying he wanted to move on with his life by apologising to Mr Yahaya, the judge sentenced Smith to three-and-a-half years in jail.