A smirking thug who battered his friend, forced him to strip naked and then paraded him through the streets has been jailed.
Karl Griffiths, 42, of Penclawdd, Gower, staged his heinous attack after a day of group socialising at the friend’s flat in the Welsh village on January 30 this year.
The distressing ordeal saw him march his naked friend through the centre of Penclawdd, down what is the main road through the whole north Gower area.
This was filmed by people in the village on their mobile phones, with the footage showing the poor man in clear distress.
Before this, Griffiths – who already has a ‘substantial criminal history’ – had hit his friend and his friend’s girlfriend with her crutches and punched him repeatedly in the head and all over his body.
He also threw a lamp across the room, destroyed their TV, shouted abuse, took the couple’s phones off them, locked everyone present in the flat – and told police on the phone: ‘I’m going to kill someone’.
He was now been locked up for 31 months, with sentences for assault occasioning actual bodily harm, battery, kidnap and criminal damage to run concurrently.
The attacker received a one quarter discount for pleading guilty – and he will only serve up to half his sentence in custody, with the rest on licence in the community.
Karl Griffiths (pictured), 42, of Penclawdd, Gower, staged his heinous attack after a day of group socialising at the friend’s flat in the Welsh village on January 30 this year
The distressing ordeal saw him march his naked friend through the centre of Penclawdd (pictured, file photo), down what is the main road through the whole north Gower area
It was a highly public area, near the village’s large CK Foodstores supermarket (pictured, file photo)
Griffiths’ previous offences include non-domestic burglaries, dishonesty matters, weapons offences and supplying Class A drugs.
His police headshot shows him looking right at the camera with a brazenly direct gaze and a smug expression.
Judge Huw Rees, at Swansea Crown Court, said Griffiths’ behaviour was ‘irrational’ and probably done under the influence of drink and drugs.
But he also admitted that by the look of his references, other people thought well of Griffiths and saw him as a ‘kindly man’.
The attacker hopes his friend can forgive him in time.
Meanwhile, the victim said in an impact statement read by Mr Jones he could not believe someone he considered a friend could have treated him so poorly.
He added it has had a massive effect on his mental health, leaving him feeling unsafe in his own home.
But in an astonishingly generous move, the victim said while what Griffiths did was ‘not right’, he did not want his friend to be prosecuted.
Judge Huw Rees, at Swansea Crown Court (pictured, file photo), said Griffiths’ behaviour was ‘irrational’ and probably done under the influence of drink and drugs
His partner said in an impact statement the horrifying attack had made her anxiety and depression even worse.
She hoped everyone could ‘put this behind them’ and move on.
Prosecutor Craig Jones said everything started after a big group hangout had extended into the evening.
Griffiths received a phone call at one point in the night, briefly leaving the flat to answer.
But when he returned, he locked the door behind him and told those present no one was leaving.
After taking the phones of his friend and his friend’s partner and refusing to return them, he accused the pair of stealing from him.
The prosecutor said it was not clear whether he was accusing them of stealing money or drugs.
It was then he assaulted the couple with the crutches and punched the friend, before hurling the abuse at them and throwing the lamp across the room, smashing it.
Griffiths ‘demanded’ his friend take his clothes off, telling him they were ‘going for a walk’ and forcing him outside. Pictured: File photo of Penclawdd
Griffiths ‘demanded’ his friend take his clothes off, telling him they were ‘going for a walk’ and forcing him outside, the prosecutor said – before he ‘essentially paraded him naked around the streets’.
It was a highly public area, near the village’s large CK Foodstores supermarket.
The barrister said he would not play the footage of the humiliating naked walk in open court out of respect for the dignity of the victim, unless the judge wanted it shown.
Griffiths then took his friend back to his flat where he smashed the TV and called the police.
It was then he made the terrifying threat: ‘Someone better come and get me, I’m going to kill someone.’
He was arrested, saying in his police interview his arrival at his friend’s flat had come after he had argued with his mother.
Griffiths accused his friend of stealing from him and admitted to giving him ‘a clip’ and hitting him with ‘a few punches’.
He accepted making him march around outside the flat to humiliate him.
The barrister said he would not play the footage of the humiliating naked walk in open court out of respect for the dignity of the victim, unless the judge wanted it shown. Pictured: File photo of Penclawdd
Griffiths previously pleaded guilty to battery, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, criminal damage, and kidnapping when he appeared in the dock for sentencing.
His lawyer James Hartson said whatever grievance his client may have had with his friend, it ‘could not remotely justify the level of humiliation and violence’ handed out.
But he added intoxication may go some way towards explaining it.
The attacker has now rid himself of his addiction to controlled drugs and has enhanced-prisoner status at HMP Swansea, the barrister continued.
Judge Rees pointed out Griffiths’ victims had been his friends – and the ‘parading’ through the streets had occurred in a particularly public location.
Griffiths’ concurrent custodial sentence comprises 31 months for kidnap, three months for battery, 18 months for assault occasioning actual bodily harm and one month for criminal damage.
