Man with learning difficulties jumps out of window to escape gang
A man with learning difficulties threw himself out a window as he tried to escape a teenage gang who were taunting him.
A man with learning difficulties threw himself out a window as he tried to escape a teenage gang who were taunting him.
The 26-year-old was chased into a derelict building in Glasgow and fell two storeys, fracturing his legs and vertebrae.
Details of what prosecutors described as an indefensible, heartless attack'' emerged as seven of the gang were sentenced for the crime.
On the evening of August 4, 2014 the victim was abused and assaulted outside a fast food restaurant in the city centre before being chased into a pub in Jamaica Street.
He was assaulted again outside the men's toilets, where he had tried to hide, and fled to Howard Street where he sought refuge in another pub.
The victim told a barmaid there that he feared for his safety but he was ejected and chased again by the mob who left him cornered on the second floor of a derelict building.
The gang only fled after he crashed through the window and members of the public came to his aid.
David Harvie, procurator fiscal for west of Scotland, said: This gang of cowards relentlessly pursued their terrified victim and caused him serious harm just because they thought he was different.
Targeting someone because of disability, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation or any other prejudice is totally unacceptable and a zero tolerance approach will be taken against all those who commit such offences.''
At the High Court in Glasgow a 17-year-old man was detained for six months for assault and breach of the peace.
Five other men and a woman, all aged 16 or 17, were given a two-year supervision order and ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work.
Another member of the gang, a 19-year-old, had her sentence deferred until June 20.
Three pleaded guilty at a hearing in May and five pleaded guilty when they appeared in court in November.