His tormentors also threatened to cut his eyelids offA vulnerable man was spat on, held by the throat and told his eyelids would be cut off before being stabbed in the back in a humiliating robbery.
The victim was told "there would be reprisals if he went to the police" as Joshua Wise and Stuart Keeling searched his flat at a supported accommodation block in Coventry.
Having been stabbed, the victim, who suffers from schizophrenia and depression, pleaded to be let go by his tormentors and was saved by police arriving at the scene, having been called by a neighbour.
Wise, 21, who is from Coventry but of no fixed address, was jailed for eight-and-a-half years – of which he will have to serve at least two-thirds before he can be released - after finally pleading guilty to robbing his victim. He initially denied the charge.
His accomplice Keeling, 24, of Shirley Road, Walsgrave, was jailed for five years and ten months after also eventually changing his plea to guilty.
Sentencing them separately, Judge Anthony Potter told Wise: “If you were not aware of the vulnerabilities of those living there, I am satisfied you knew within moments he was a man with mental health difficulties.
“He was not sufficiently robust to resist you, and you effectively forced your way into his property.
“You used that time in the property not to thank him for letting you in, but to terrify him, and it is quite plain you took the lead role.
“You bullied him with the assistance of Mr Keeling, not just to get items, but to exert power over him. It was all designed to humiliate him and show him you were in control.”
The judge told Keeling: “[The victim] described it as a brutal and terrifying attack, and you should feel thoroughly ashamed of your part in it.
“The way you conducted yourself in that property... may not have been as bad as Mr Wise, but it did you no credit.
“You were prowling round in the background while Mr Wise was humiliating him and eventually stabbing him, and when you were invited by Mr Wise to have ‘a free hit,’ you did not make your excuses, you hit him.
“But I take account of the fact you were under pressure from Mr Wise and do not have the previous convictions he has.”