A man who beat up his friend and made him remove his clothes before ‘parading’ him naked through the streets has been jailed.
Swansea Crown Court heard that Karl Griffiths, 42, attacked his friend and the friend’s partner during a gathering at a flat in Penclawdd on January 30.
Griffiths, who the judge said was likely under the influence of alcohol or drugs, had taken the phones of the friend and his partner and accused them of stealing from him.
The prosecuting lawyer said he then beat them using crutches while shouting abuse at the couple.
Griffiths then ‘demanded’ that his friend take his clothes off and told him they were ‘going for a walk,’ the prosecutor said.
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He proceeded to force his naked friend outside and ‘essentially paraded him naked around the streets’ in the middle of the village.
The ordeal was filmed by onlookers in the village, before continuing when they returned to the flat, the court heard.
Griffiths then smashed a TV and called police, saying: ‘Someone better come and get me, I’m going to kill someone’.
He was arrested and told police he had gone to his friend’s flat after arguing with his mother.
Griffiths admitted to giving his friend ‘a clip’ and hitting him with ‘a few punches’.
In an impact statement which was read to the court by the prosecution barrister, the victim said the experience had a massive impact on his mental health and left him feeling unsafe in his own home.
But he added that while what the defendant did to him and his partner was ‘not right’ he did not support the prosecution.
Griffiths had previously pleaded guilty to battery, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, criminal damage, and kidnapping when he appeared in the dock for sentencing.
The court heard he has a ‘substantial criminal history’ including non-domestic burglaries, dishonesty matters, weapons offences, and supplying Class A drugs.
James Hartson, acting for Griffiths, said whatever grievance the defendant may have had with his friend it ‘could not remotely justify the level of humiliation and violence’ handed out.
He said he had seen the mobile phone footage of the incident and said it was clear the victim was distressed as ‘he was marched through the centre of Penclawdd in a state of undress’.
Judge Huw Rees said Griffiths’ behaviour had been ‘irrational’ and probably done under the influence of drink and drugs, but added it was clear from references he had read that other people thought well of the defendant and regarded him as a ‘kindly man’.
Griffiths was was sentenced to 31 months in prison. His barrister said he hoped his friend could eventually forgive him.
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