A FATHER and son attacked a man outside his Stratford home, knocking him over a wall and then going round to continue the attack, leaving him with permanent damage to his eyes.
Although David and Maximillion Lewis admitted attacking their victim, who will be looking through ‘a swirling black fog’ for the rest of his life, they claimed he had been the aggressor.
It was only on the day the case was listed for a ‘trial of issue’ at Warwick Crown Court that they accepted the attack had been started by Maximillion, with his father quickly joining in.
Fifty year-old David Lewis, of Manor Road, Harbury, and 21 year-old Maximillion Lewis, of Woodman Court, Stratford, were both jailed for eight months.
The court heard the incident took place as long ago as April 2015 as Rodney Williams was returning to his home in Arden Street, Stratford, at around 10pm.
Prosecutor Graeme Simpson said: “The complainant had been in a relationship with Maximillion’s mother. By chance, the defendants were walking by.
“He heard a voice and turned round, and was confronted by Maximillion who attacked him with a sustained barrage of punches, and David joined in.
“He went over a low wall, and he felt he was losing consciousness and his vision was blurred.”
Mr Williams thought that would bring the incident to an end, but David Lewis said: “Let’s go round and kill him.”
Father and son then went round the wall and continued the attack with their fists, and with Maximillion also kicking Mr Williams, in what Mr Simpson described as ‘a thorough beating.’
The court heard Maximillion had entered his plea on the basis that it was just one kick to the victim’s buttocks at the end of the assault.
And Mr Simpson explained: “The prosecution case is that there were a number of kicks but, having consulted with the complainant, we decided we were not going to pursue that.”
Fortunately someone came along Arden Street and shouted out, at which the defendants ceased their attack and made off.
After they were arrested, Maximillion claimed it was he who had been attacked by Mr Williams, and his father supported that lying account.
Mr Simpson said following the attack both of Mr Williams’s eyes were bruised and swollen, with a cut under one of them, and he suffered from blurred vision and constant headaches.
In a statement made since then, he says the injury to his eyes, which caused cells to become detached, is permanent, and has left him unable to effectively run his business, adding: “I will be looking through a swirling black fog for the rest of my life.”
Trevor Meegan, for Maximillion, said that prior to the incident he had no convictions, although he has since been given a suspended sentence for sexual activity with a child.
Asking for a further suspended sentence to run alongside that, Mr Meegan said there had been a history of antagonism between Maximillion Lewis and Mr Williams.
Marcus Harry, for David Lewis, said: “He saw Maximillion involved in an altercation with the man he saw to be a problem in his son’s life, and he momentarily lost control.”
He added David runs his own landscaping business, with three full-time staff and four part-time, and has recently taken on a nursery, as a result of which he has had to put back a hip replacement operation he had been due to have next month.
Jailing the father and son, Recorder Alastair Smith told them: “It was a sustained attack, and you forced the victim over a wall. He genuinely believed he could be beaten to death.
“The wall was, in a sense, a natural break. But you persisted and continued the attack, only stopping when a third party intervened.
“The injuries are serious and, I am told, permanent, and have had a permanent effect on his life.
“I appreciate there is a context to the offence, and that you, Maximillion Lewis, were homeless at the time because your mother’s partner would not let you stay at the address.
“I accept there is significant personal mitigation, but in my view the offences are so serious that they can only be met by terms of immediate imprisonment.”
