A UNIVERSITY student told a jury how he was mugged by a man armed with a crowbar as he walked home late at night.
Jamie Gordon finished work in an Italian restaurant in Worcester at 11pm, visited a friend and was walking back to St John’s at 12.45am on Sunday, April 28, this year.
He got to an alleyway leading to steps up to the Hive when he was approached by two men, one on a bicycle, Worcester Crown Court heard. Mr Gordon said one of the men asked him if he wanted to buy drugs.
He declined and the other man then produced a crowbar from under his jacket.
They demanded £20 or they would “bang his head” with the crowbar, he said.
The man then held the crowbar by his side and Mr Gordon was told he was going to hit him on the knee.
“I said why are you doing this? There’s cops around the corner. You’re going to get caught,” Mr Gordon told the jury. He dug two £20 notes from his pocket but the man on the bicycle said he only wanted £20 and just took one note.
As Mr Gordon was leaving, he heard a shout of “go back to your own country, you Arab.” Mr Gordon, who is from Puerto Rico, said to them, “You’ve got me wrong. I’m from the other side of the world.”
Harold Ewing, prosecuting, told the court Mr Gordon found police officers in the city and they saw the two men walking nearby.
They were arrested and a £20 note found on one of them had Mr Gordon’s fingerprints on it.
One of the men, Sam Knott, aged 34, of Shrubbery Road, Worcester, admitted robbery and will be sentenced on October 18. The court heard he was the man with the crowbar.
The other alleged robber, Brett Gilham, aged 26, of Cranham Drive, Warndon, denied robbery but was convicted after a two-day trial.
He will be sentenced on the same day as his co-accused and was granted bail. Mr Ewing said he was the man on the bicycle.
He told police he did not deny being in the area at the time or being on the bicycle but had played no part in the robbery. He said Mr Gordon had approached him asking to buy drugs and he had sent him to Knott.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article