Three men who subjected a kidnap victim to a “level of violence and sadistic torture rarely seen in these courts” were handed sentences totalling more than 28 years.
While ringleader and instigator, 26-year-old Adam Potts was handed a 14 year sentence with an extended licence period of three years, Mervyn Gibson (50) was handed an 11 year sentence and 30-year-old Conor Campbell a 38 month sentence.
Jailing the trio at Newry Crown Court, Judge Gordon Kerr KC said that having abducted their victim just after midnight on 8 November 2020 and held for nine hours, the man had been “subjected to what can only be described as torture both physical and mental.”
Potts from Pine View Court in Gilford; Gibson, from Woodview Park in Tandragee and Campbell, from Pinebank in Craigavon all entered guilty pleas to kidnapping the victim and inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent on November 8 2020 as well as possessing weapons with intent to assault.
While Gibson admitted having a crossbow with intent to assault, Potts entered guilty pleas to having a hammer and pliers with the same intent.
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Judge Kerr outlined how the victim was at his flat in Co. Armagh just after midnight when Potts and Gibson arrived.
Potts used a hammer to hit him full force on each knee and dragging the “screaming” victim down the stairs, they forced him into a car being driven by Campbell.
On the 15 minute drive to a bungalow in the countryside, Gibson was “constantly” punching and elbowing the terrified victim who “did not retaliate, out of fear.”
When they reached the bungalow, Potts made the victim place his hand on a windowsill “and smacked his hand twice with the hammer,” breaking his finger before stabbing him in the leg with a knife.
Forced back into the car, Gibson again rained blows on his head and upper body, Campbell drove them over the border while the kidnappers “talked about killing him and feeding him to pigs.”
Fearing he was going to be killed, the victim told police officers how they drove around looking for a village and for travellers “where he would get his head kicked in and he would disappear for good.”
The judge outlined how “they talked about having to burn the car but if they did, they would burn him in it” and eventually, they went back to Gibson’s house where he talked about his crossbow and “about getting cocaine or MDMA.”
Gibson shot the victim three times with the bow, firstly his left ankle with the bolt “going straight through,” then his right knee and then his left.
That was the last time the victim was shot because, even with him screaming in pain again, Gibson was not able to retrieve the bolt from where it was lodged in his kneecap, the bolt refusing to budge despite Gibson pushing and pulling at it with pliers “for five to ten minutes.”
He wasn’t the only one to use the pliers, however, as Potts used them to break one of the victim’s fingers.
Potts also hit him twice in the testicles with a litre bottle of vodka and stabbed him three times, making the chilling comment at one stage, while sticking the knife into an already existing stab wound, that “I’ll tell you one thing, you have a high tolerance for pain.”
“He also remembered that Potts had bitten his ear and threatened to rip his ear off,” he told the court.
More concerned about getting their hands on a bag of coke, the uncaring assailants “complained about the victim getting blood on the sofa” and bundling him back into the car again. He was driven to Portadown and despite his pleas to “just drop him at the hospital,” Campbell said it was “too far out of his way.”
Ditched at the roadside at Edgarstown at around 8am, the bleeding and badly injured victim tried to wave down passing cars but eventually encountered a man out walking and help was summonsed.
Surgeons had to insert steel pins in his knee which was held in a brace for six months and “even now, he still has mobility issues and uses a walking stick.”
The victim was able to identify the defendants in a video police line up and the court heard there was also DNA and forensic evidence to connect each of the defendants to the shocking assault.
Arrested and interviewed, they all denied involvement but eventually admitted their guilt.
Judge Kerr revealed that Potts has 68 previous convictions including multiple entries for violence, the most significant of which was a GBH with intent where he stabbed his aunt’s partner in the chest
He was sentenced to 14 years with an extended period on licence of three years.
In relation to Gibson, Judge Kerr imposed an 11 year sentence, half to be served in jail and half on licence.
Campbell was sentenced to 38 month, with 14 months in jail and the rest on licence in order to address his addiction issues.
In addition to the jail sentences, Judge Kerr also imposed 15 year restraining orders.