Coventry gangsters took man to woods to launch brutal attack

[dutchman]

During the attack in Willenhall Woods, the victim had a bottle smashed against the side of his face and was repeatedly struck with a tree branch

Three men working for a drug gang snatched a man from his Coventry home and took him to a wood where he was mercilessly beaten for information before being dumped in the street.

During the attack in Willenhall Woods, the victim had a bottle smashed against the side of his face and was repeatedly struck with a tree branch, Warwick Crown Court has heard.

The brutal attack left him with a broken shin, eye socket and nose, and damage to his right index finger.

As a result he can no longer play football or go running, has difficulty holding a pen, suffers swelling and watering to his eye, and was unable to work in his previous job as a labourer.

His attackers Jiguaerl Botamba, Raoul Ntare and Issa Dija all denied kidnapping and inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent – but were found guilty following a trial.

Botamba and Kameil Campbell had already pleaded guilty to further charges of possessing a shortened firearm, a devastating but notoriously inaccurate slam gun, and possessing it with intent to cause fear of violence.

Three other men, Paul Gordon, Jamar Knole and Andrew Clay had denied those charges but was convicted following a separate trial – and all seven men appeared together to be sentenced.

Judge Peter Cooke imposed extended sentences on Botamba, Ntare and Gordon after classing them as dangerous offenders.

Botamba, 22, of Little Duke Street, Nuneaton, was given an extended sentence of ten years with an additional five years on licence for the kidnapping incident – consecutive to a term of five years and four months for the firearm.

Of the other two kidnappers, Dija, 32, of Lapworth Road, Wood End, Coventry, was jailed for 12 years, of which he will have to serve eight.

Ntare, 38, of Alton Close, Wood End, was given an eight-year extended sentence consecutive to an eight-year extended term he is already serving, with an additional three years on licence.

In relation to the slam gun offences, Gordon, 28, of Whiteners Crescent, Wyken, was also handed an eight-year extended sentence with a further three years on licence.

Clay, 47 of Black Prince Avenue, Coventry, was jailed for six years, and Campbell, now 19 but just 17 at the time, of Guild Road, Coventry, for three years.

Sentencing on Knole, 32, of Rosewood Avenue, Coventry, was adjourned for a report to be prepared on him to assess whether he should be considered a dangerous offender.