A STUDENT found guilty of a Worcester nightclub attack in which a man was knocked unconscious is due to be sentenced today.

Jake Toriyen was unanimously convicted of assault occasioning actual bodily harm at Worcester Crown Court in November last year and is due to be sentenced by Judge Jim Tindal this afternoon.

Meanwhile, a Redditch murder trial which prosecutors say may have been a drug-related stabbing is due to continue in court one. The man accused of wielding the knife is said to have fled the country but three other men are on trial for the murder.

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Toriyen 21-year-old of Henwick Road, St John’s, Worcester, had denied the assault, claiming he had acted in self-defence and telling a consultant psychiatrist he had been ‘intimidated’ by his victim, Paul Monnes, after the victim bumped into him three times before the attack on March 17, 2019.

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But during the trial the jury saw CCTV footage of the attack in the crowded nightclub. Toriyen can be seen throwing punches at Mr Monnes before knocking him out with an uppercut.

Andrew Davidson, prosecuting, talked the jury through the footage, telling them the victim had no memory of the attack. He later told officers: “My jaw and cheek was hurting and I felt it was hanging off.”

Mr Davidson said: “He (Mr Monnes) bumps into the defendant, maybe on more than one occasion. We say that this defendant takes exception to that. He launched into an attack on him, punching the back of his head and to the face - three quick punches in quick succession, a short pause, and then one slower uppercut that rendered Mr Monnes unconscious on the floor.”

“Mr Monnes managed to get his feet and leave the premises but was later conveyed by taxi to the hospital.”

The jury was also shown photos of Mr Monnes’s injuries. He suffered swelling to the right hand side of his face, other bruises and abrasions and needed treatment on a wisdom tooth that had become twisted and pushed into the gum. Toriyen left immediately after the incident.

As a precaution Mr Monnes had to be immobilised on a spinal board.

During the trial Toriyen told a jury he suffered PTSD after an assault when he was 11 years old. He told a jury he did not act out of anger but added: “There was fear.”

Toriyen was arrested at the University of Worcester campus at 9.20am on March 27, 2019 answering ‘no comment’ to police questions in interview.

Adam Carpenter, 21, of Wharrington Hill, Redditch, Faisal Fiaz, 21, of Millsbro Road, Redditch and Mohammed Saddam Hussain, 25, of Oakfield Avenue, Birmingham all deny murder and conspiracy to rob following the stabbing in Redditch. A fourth man, Mohammed Hammed Hussain who is the brother of defendant Mohammed Saddam Hussain is said by prosecutors to be the man who wielded the knife. However, he is said to have fled abroad after the killing.

Michael Burrows QC, prosecuting, opened the case to the jury on Thursday following the fatal stabbing of Colton Bryan inside his flat in Guinness Close on July 15 last year.

Mr Burrows said: "He was in his flat with his girlfriend, Chelsea Durber and two other supposed friends, Daniel Allcott and Adam Carpenter. They were watching television and smoking cannabis.

"Shortly after 9.30pm an intruder entered the flat. He approached Colton Bryan, who was sitting down, and repeatedly stabbed with a large hunting knife. Colton Bryan tried to defend himself with a baseball bat.

"Daniel Allcott and Adam Carpenter did nothing to help him. They both fled. Chelsea ran into the kitchen and grabbed a frying pan, which she used to hit the attacker as hard as she could over his head.

"It did not stop him and so she hit him again on the arm. The attacker pushed her and she fell on top of Colton on the floor. The attacker stepped over them and left."

The prosecution say the attacker was Mohammed Hammad Hussain who fled abroad the next day. Efforts are being made to try to get him brought back to this country to face trial for murder, the jury was told.

They also say the three defendants in the dock were in phone contact with each other and helped Mohammed Hammad Husain before and after the murder. Mohammed Hammad Hussain is the brother of Mohammed Saddam Hussain, one of the three men now standing trial.

Saddam Hussain was in Birmingham at the time of the stabbing.

"He accepts that he helped his brother to get out of the country afterwards but denies he was involved in the murder" said Mr Burrows. The prosecution case is that Carpenter ran out to his car, which was parked not right outside the flat but in a nearby street, waited for Hammad Hussain to come out and get in the car before driving off to Birmingham.

Mr Burrows told the jury: "This was a planned attack and there must have been a motive. It seems it was to do with drugs.

"Colton Bryan had a stock of cannabis in the flat and was dealing in it. He had money. Although nothing was actually stolen, you may conclude that the purpose of the attack was to steal from him. So the prosecution allege not only murder but also a conspiracy to rob."

Although Colton Bryan was not killed immediately, he was not able to tell the police and others at the scene anything of significance as to who his attacker was or what this was about.

Neither Chelsea Durber nor Daniel Allcott saw the face of the intruder because he wore a mask. They could not identify him and knew nothing of his involvement with the defendants, said Mr Burrows.

Chelsea Durber said of the knife she saw in the hands of the intruder, “it was a knife to kill”.

In the course of the attack, Colton Bryan was stabbed five times, once to the left arm, once to the back and three times to the chest.

According to the pathologist who examined Colton Bryan’s body, the stab wounds and other incised wounds to the skin would have required at least moderate force.

The cause of death was the stab wound to the chest.

The knife used was recovered. It was later found on the settee. It was a large hunting-style knife with a double-edged blade about 9 inches long.

The trial continues