A CHINESE takeaway manager was left brain damaged after being battered with a plank of wood by a 15-year-old thug while trying to gather evidence against a teenage gang.
Sheffield Crown Court heard Lun Min Chen – manager of Happy Garden Takeaway, Pontefract Road, Lundwood, Barnsley – was gathering evidence against yobs calling themselves the 'Lundwood Bad Boys' when he was set upon.
The attack, on Mischief Night last year, was the culmination of intimidation by the gang, which had terrorised his business for months.
Locking up the 15-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, Sheffield's top judge Alan Goldsack QC said: "Crime of this nature is all too prevalent and much of it is committed by young people. The public expects courts to do what they can to stamp it out."
The attack left the takeaway manager fighting for his life.
He was in a coma and spent six weeks in hospital – with initial fears that he might never recover.
Although in some areas he has since made good progress, he still has impaired vision, increased risk of epilepsy and probable long-term cognitive impairment.
The court heard trouble started when a 16-year-old threw a lit firework into Mr Chen's premises.
Two hours later, youths gathered outside and 19-year-old Luke Kerrigan – the only yob who can be named – and a 17-year-old pelted the window with bricks.
Armed with a camera, Mr Chen went out to collect evidence but was wrestled to the ground by Kerrigan, as the 15-year-old appeared brandishing the wood.
Judge Goldsack said: "As the manager got to his feet you hit him around the head with it. He fell to the floor unconscious but you hit him several more times with the wood, causing it to splinter. You then ran off, leaving a seriously injured man on the ground."
The 15-year-old pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent and was sentenced to three years and four months' detention.
Kerrigan, of Grange Crescent, Cundy Cross, was sentenced to 16 months in a young offenders' institute for affray.
The other youths were each sentenced to eight months detention and training: the 16-year-old for racially aggravated damage when he threw the firework and the 17-year-old for affray.
Judge Goldsack said: "These were all extremely serious offences."
READ MOREMain news indexAll the wildlife and green news for South Yorkshire in Green SceneYour letters.
FeaturesLatest sport.Check out the very latest on South Yorkshire's roads - including live traffic cameras on Sheffield's commuter routes - with our Traffic sectionThe full article contains 449 words and appears in Sheffield Star newspaper.
