Two men are to be sentenced after a teenager was run over by a car and then shot with a Taser gun in Ripon.

Nixon Newton-Hayes, 21, was convicted of assault occasioning actual bodily harm (ABH) and carrying a prohibited weapon last week following a trial at York Crown Court.

His co-accused Liam Mayhew, 18, was found not guilty of causing grievous bodily harm with intent but was convicted of an alternative count of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

Prosecutor Adrian Strong said the teenage victim was walking along the street when a Volkswagen Polo, driven by Mayhew, stopped in the road near Ripon city centre at about 8pm on March 9.

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

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

“He saw Newton-Hayes with a Taser,” said Mr Strong. 

He added:

The boy ran away, chased by Newton-Hayes and the unidentified male, as Mayhew 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, Newton-Hayes 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 Mayhew.

Denied Tasering

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

A female witness said she 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”.

The “badly injured” boy was taken to Harrogate District Hospital where he was treated for 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.

Mayhew surrendered to police later in the evening and Newton-Hayes was arrested shortly afterwards.

Newton-Hayes, of Bondgate in Ripon, denied ABH and possessing a prohibited weapon designed or adapted for the discharge of an electric shock, but was found guilty by the jury.

Judge Sean Morris, the Recorder of York, adjourned sentence to October 13 but warned the defendants to prepare for prison. 

Both defendants were released on bail on condition that they observed a curfew.