A teenage couple, who battered a 78 year-old man at a bus stop after he pointed out their vehicle's lights were not switched on, were locked-up yesterday.
Thugs Christopher Graney, 19,(pic.bottom) and his girlfriend Samantha Fenton, 19,(pic.mid.) pushed lone Andrew Connan to the ground and repeatedly punched and kicked him during the sustained midnight attack.
Landscape gardener Graney, of Mayfair Close, Beckenham and Fenton, of Homefield Road, Bromley were both convicted by a Croydon Crown Court jury of causing actual bodily harm to Mr. Connan in Widmore Road, Bromley on October 15, last year.
Mr. Connan (pic.top) was waiting for a bus home after enjoying a night out when he waved towards a car erratically driven by Graney because it was dark and the vehicle's lights were not switched on.
Fenton asked her boyfriend, who had been drinking that night: "Are you going to let him get away with that?"
They were each sentenced to thirty months youth custody at Croydon Crown Court by Judge Stephen Waller who said: "You Graney drove past in a car in an erratic and dangerous manner and your rear seat passenger was frightened and you had no lights on.
"The victim made some sort of gesture to you to turn on your headlights and you Fenton instigated what happened.
"You stopped the car and attacked the victim. You knocked him to the ground and he was obviously a defenceless, elderly man and you repeatedly kicked and punched him and you Fenton got out of the car and joined in.
"You kicked him and hit him so hard with your fist it caused an injury to your right hand and you were seen to step back as if to take a flying kick and changed your mind.
"I have seen the photos of the victim's injuries and at the time they seemed very serious. An attack on an elderly man could have led to very serious injury.
"There were no permanent serious injuries and he was discharged the following day and made a good physical recovery."
However, after reading Mr. Connan's victim impact statement the judge announced: "His life will never be the same again.
"There was a vulnerable victim and it was a sustained assault and neither of you showed the slightest degree of remorse for this shocking attack.
'Only a custodial sentence is justified and one that reflects the court's and public's abhorrence at such an attack on an elderly man."
Graney will serve an additional extra six months custody for smashing lone pedestrian Jayden McKenzie over the head with a metal drain cover and beating him with two accomplices.
He attacked the 28 year-old in the forecourt of a Total petrol station in the early hours of August 27, 2011 in Croydon Road, Beckenham, leaving the victim needing hospital treatment for a head wound, which required three stitches.
His lawyer Mr. Brian Kennedy said: "There are infrequent occasions when he drinks to excess and that changes his character to an aggressive individual.
"An excessive amount of alcohol was taken by the defendant. He is disgusted with himself."
The prosecution dropped charges of drink-driving, no insurance and no licence against Graney.
Fenton's lawyer Mr. Clive Smith told the court: "She says she felt physically sick when looking at the photos."
He said of first-time offender Fenton, who is employed as her mother's full-time carer: "She is otherwise a caring and loving individual. That is her nature when not in drink.
"Her actions that night have scared her into not drinking since October….That is not the person she is or wants to be."
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