Two men were jailed for 18 months yesterday after they admitted causing actual bodily harm to Torrick Williams during a vicious attack that started on Court Street and ended in the area of the Ducking Stool where the victim managed to escape.

Twenty-seven year-old David Cox and 29-year-old Antoine Anderson had originally been charged with causing grievous bodily harm to Mr. Williams, but the Crown accepted their guilty pleas to the lesser offence of causing actual bodily harm. The Crown also accepted their not guilty pleas to charges of deprivation of liberty, robbery and demanding property with menace with intent to steal. Prosecutor Cindy Clarke said Williams was attacked on August 27, 2004 as he left the Swinging Doors nightclub.

She said: ?Anderson placed the victim in a choke hold, whilst Cox was pulling the victim by the hair. The assault moved across the street to Angle Street where they pushed him to the ground and began kicking him about his body.?

The victim was then taken to the St. Monica?s Road area where additional persons joined in the attack. Ms Clarke told the court: ?He was punched and kicked about his body for 10 to 15 minutes and then the assault progressed on to the North Shore Road. Cox and Anderson were present the entire time, and the victim heard them both saying ?beat your boy!??

Ms Clarke added: ?The assault continued at the Ducking Stool area where the defendants and other assailants were present.

The assailants then began beating the victim with a two-by-four piece of wood, whilst punching and kicking him. They also cut off locks of the victim?s hair.? Mr. Williams was able to escape on foot and ran to a payphone to call his girlfriend. He then collapsed to the ground.

He suffered bruising and swelling of the facial bones, swelling and bruising of his nose and upper lip and bruising to his right lower chest.

Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves called the attack ?unmerciful? and said: ?No man on earth should have to suffer this kind of beating.?

He then sent Cox and Anderson to jail for 18 months. Cox?s sentence will take effect immediately, while Anderson?s sentence will run consecutive to a sentence he is currently serving. Lawyer Craig Attridge represented Cox, while Charles Richardson represented Anderson.