[T]wo brothers have been jailed after they attacked a man with a machete outside his Gateshead home – because he asked them to stop driving dangerously on his street.
A 26-year-old man was smoking a cigarette in the garden of his home in Chopwell when he saw a Citreon Xsara Picasso doing handbrake turns in the back lane.
He challenged the occupants over their behaviour at which point the driver Tony Duddin got out of the vehicle and punched him in the face.
The victim returned into his house and called the police but when he looked outside Duddin was approaching armed with a machete.
Duddin then began to attack the terrified victim with the blade in a violent assault with the other occupant of the vehicle – his brother Ricky.
The attack left the victim with serious injuries and he was taken to hospital for treatment to a number of wounds.
Police later located the Duddin brothers following the attack on December 27, 2016, and they were arrested and later charged by detectives.
Tony, 25, of Front Street, Craghead, Stanley, and Ricky, 23, of Elm Street, Stanley, both pleaded guilty to wounding with intent.
And at Newcastle Crown Court last week Tony, who also admitted unrelated driving offences, was jailed for nine years and Ricky was jailed for seven years and two months.
Following the case, Detective Constable Paul Hodge paid tribute to the victim for standing up to the brothers and said he was glad to see the Duddin brothers behind bars.
He said: “This was a violent attack that could have seen the victim killed and I am glad that the judge has handed down two lengthy custodial sentences.
“The victim in this case was standing up for his local community when he challenged Tony Duddin about his driving and it was completely unacceptable for him to be attacked in this way.
“He suffered serious injuries at the hands of these two individuals and the emotional scars that he suffered as a result of these attacks will stay with him forever.
“These jail sentences will not change that but hopefully it helps to offer him some comfort to know that the Duddin brothers are behind bars where they cannot hurt anyone else.”
following the case, the 26-year-old man said he is happy to see the brothers behind bars for the attack and has recalled the moment he was attacked with the machete.
He said: “The attack was literally out of the blue and was just because he didn’t like the way I was looking at him when he was driving around like an idiot.
“He literally just wanted blood. I thought the worst and I thought he was going to kill me. My mum was just screaming as I was getting hit and I was worried about her.
“They hit me in the head, I just went down and then I was dragged into the street. That was the scariest bit. I wasn’t necessarily scared of them but I was scared of the knife and scared of dying.
“To be fair, I think that seven years and nine years is a good result. I was surprised that they got that long but the whole experience was awful.”
