Two young men have gone on trial after a teenager was run over in a car and then, while lying helpless on the pavement with a broken leg, was allegedly attacked with a Taser gun.

Nixon Newton-Hayes, 21, from Ripon, and a youth who can’t be named for legal reasons, appeared at York Crown Court yesterday (August 26) as the prosecution opened its case in a trial expected to last four days.

Mr Newton-Hayes, of Bondgate, denies assault occasioning actual bodily harm and possessing a prohibited weapon designed or adapted for the discharge of an electric shock, namely a Taser.

His co-accused denies dangerous driving and causing grievous bodily harm with intent. The alleged offences are said to have occurred near the town centre at about 8pm on March 9.

Prosecutor Adrian Strong said the teenage victim was walking along the street when a car, which was driven by the teenage defendant, stopped in the road.

Two men got out, “one from the front-passenger side and one from the rear”. One of those men was Mr Newton-Hayes. It was unknown who the other passenger was.

According to the teenage complainant, they were both armed and the unidentified man appeared to be carrying a weapon, possibly a knife.

Mr Strong said:

The boy ran away, chased by Mr Newton-Hayes and the unidentified male, as the teenage co-defendant pursued him in the car.

The boy ran around a street corner, followed by the pursuing vehicle which mounted the pavement and, according to the prosecution, “deliberately ran him over from behind”.

He suffered a broken leg, described as an open fracture where the shinbone had pierced the skin. His other foot was also broken.

As the boy was lying in agony on the pavement, Mr Newton-Hayes allegedly ran up to him and Tasered him “repeatedly” with the electric stun gun. The men then got into the vehicle which was driven off “at speed” by the teenage co-defendant.

Mr Newton-Hayes was charged with ABH because he had allegedly fired the Taser repeatedly at the boy who was in “intense pain”. He denies the allegations, claiming he wasn’t the person who was carrying the Taser.

Mr Strong said there was “no love lost” between the defendants and the teenage complainant who can’t be named for legal reasons.

A female witness who will give evidence during the trial told police that she was talking to someone on her driveway when she saw a boy running around a corner and two people getting out of a car and chasing him. 

Mr Strong said:

He said that another female witness saw a car being driven “dangerously” from the scene and then being abandoned outside a property in Ripon.

She then saw “three people get out (and) jump over a fence”. They then reappeared, got into a different car and “drove away from Ripon”.

Police were quickly on the scene after being alerted by a witness. The teenage co-defendant was identified “immediately” as the driver.

The “badly injured” boy was taken to Harrogate District Hospital where he was treated for the fractures to his leg and foot and injuries to his ankle.

He also had bruises to his head and neck, and grazes to his elbow which, according to the prosecution, were “consistent with being deliberately run over with a car”. He underwent several operations including one to re-set and plate his broken leg.

Mr Strong said the teenage co-defendant surrendered to police later in the evening and Mr Newton-Hayes was arrested shortly afterwards.

Mr Newton-Hayes accepted that he had got out of the vehicle and chased the alleged victim but claimed there had been provocation and that he was not the one carrying the Taser.

His teenage co-accused accepted that he was the driver and that he had struck the boy with the car but denied that his driving was dangerous or that he intended to cause the boy injury.

The trial continues.