Two jailed for blind man attack

James Lowe had been walking with his white stick when he was mugged

Two men who robbed a blind man of his wallet and mobile phone while kicking and punching him have each been jailed for five years.

Jason Cummings and John Davies were drunk at the time they mugged 63-year-old James Lowe in Newtown, Powys.

Judge John Rogers QC told them they made no positive contribution to society and staggered "from one can of special brew to the next".

They had denied robbery but a jury convicted them at Mold crown court.

The court heard that both men had been a nuisance in the Newtown area.

But the robbery upon Mr Lowe as he walked along with his white stick was "in a totally different league" to the offences they had committed before, the judge explained.

"You robbed a blind man as he walked near his home on the Treowen Estate at Newtown," the judge told them.

They felt it appropriate to punch him and then kick him while he was on the ground James Lowe

Mr Lowe was pushed to the ground and both kicked him for "their gratuitous pleasure".

They then rifled his pockets and took his wallet and mobile phone, Mold crown court heard.

The judge said there were three main aggravating features.

He said that the victim was vulnerable because he was blind, it was two against one, and the violence they used had been gratuitous.

"They need not have kicked him," he said.

"They could have simply held him and take his possessions but they felt it appropriate to punch him and then kick him while he was on the ground," the judge added.

Cummings, 26, of Newtown, denied that he was involved in the robbery at all and actually named another man who he said was responsible.

Davies, 44, and also of Newtown, initially denied being involved, but later volunteered to police that he had been present, but that it was Cummings who committed the robbery.

Des Parry, prosecuting, said that it was the prosecution case that there were two men involved in the attack.

Mr Lowe told the court how he was walking from his son's home to the home of a friend on the evening of 7 September last year when he came under attack.

He saw the shadow of a stocky man approach and he was offered cheap alcohol.

Shouted and screamed

Mr Lowe said that he did not drink and walked on but he then felt someone pulling at the back pocket of his jeans.

He turned around and could not see anyone.

Mr Lowe said that he saw the shadow of someone crouched down and pushed him away.

But the stocky man then hit him to the side of the face.

After two thumps to the chest, he fell to his knees and it was then that he was kicked by both men, he said.

They rummaged through his pockets taking his wallet and one said "don't forget his mobile phone" and that was taken as well.

Mr Lowe told how he shouted and screamed to try and attract attention.

The men fled and he staggered forwards a short while before collapsing and the alarm was raised by a lady walking her dog.

The court heard how Mr Lowe was taken to hospital after sustaining injuries to his neck and back.

Police arrested both men a short time later at a local flat where the mobile phone was recovered.

Cummings' DNA was found on the SIM card.