A week after being arrested, Tamika Rosser, 18, drank a bottle of vodka, grabbed a kitchen knife and a pair of scissors and chased a neighbour down the street, a court heard
Three “feral” youngsters set terrifying traps to attack and rob unsuspecting takeaway delivery drivers, a court has heard.
On one occasion, Tamika Rosser, Jack Delaney, and Adrian O’Neil ordered food and met the driver armed with knives while demanding money.
A separate time saw the trio order pizza before following their victim driver to his vehicle and hitting him on the knee with a metal bar,
In another incident O’Neil grabbed a taxi driver around the throat from behind and “squeezed tightly”.
A week after being arrested, Rosser drank a bottle of vodka before grabbing a kitchen knife and a pair of scissors and chasing a neighbour down the street, a court heard.
The court heard how she threatened to kill him before she damaged his house and car.
A judge said the three defendants could perhaps best be described as “feral” youngsters whose serious antisocial behaviour knew no limits.
He told the trio – aged 18, 19, and 20 – they had no respect for anything or anybody and sent them all into custody.
The female defendant will serve her sentence in the same prison where her mother is being held.
Swansea Crown Court heard late on the afternoon of May 14 this year a woman calling herself Jade rang a branch of Domino’s and ordered food to be delivered to flats in Penlan, Swansea.
Kevin Jones, prosecuting, said Rosser, Delaney, and O’Neil – who is also known as Adrian Welch and Adrian Walsh – came down from Delaney’s flat and met the driver in the foyer of the block.
The group tried to snatch the bag of food from the delivery man but after a brief “tug of war” with the driver he retreated back to his car still holding the pizzas.
The court heard the trio followed their victim to the vehicle and hit him on the knee with a metal bar before grabbing the food and going back into the flats via a fire exit they had previously jammed open.
That evening the defendants set another trap, calling a second local pizza delivery firm and ordering more food.
Mr Jones said when the driver arrived, Delaney and O’Neil again met their victim in the foyer – this time armed with knives.
A scuffle ensued with the defendants brandishing the weapons and demanding money.
The driver managed to knock one of the men down before going back to his car and telephoning friends for help.
The driver then armed himself with a wheel brace and charged Delaney and O’Neil in the entrance to the flats, striking O’Neil several times.
Delaney made off but was caught and brought back to the flats.
Mr Jones said O’Neil managed to flee back to the flat where he armed himself with a kettle of water and returned to the foyer and another scuffle with the driver then followed.
Eventually the delivery driver and his friends left the scene.
In the early hours of the following morning the trio ordered a taxi and went to Townhill.
Rosser got out of the front passenger seat of the vehicle, leaving the two men in the back, and O’Neil then grabbed the cabbie around the throat from behind and “squeezed tightly”.
The men began shouting at the driver and told him they had knives and said they would “cut” him.
The prosecutor said the taxi driver drove off in a panic and managed to stop an oncoming car at which which point Delaney and O’Neil ran off.
Police were alerted to the spree of offending and, realizing they were in trouble, Rosser and Delaney tried to smash CCTV cameras at the block of flats in Penlan in an attempt to destroy evidence.
The court heard that after being arrested Rosser was released on court bail to a specialist residential unit in Abertillery.
A week later she drank a bottle of vodka then grabbed a kitchen knife and a pair of scissors and chased a neighbor down the street and threatened to kill him before she damaged his house and car.
Rosser, 18, of Swansea, pleaded guilty to robbery and criminal damage in respect of the Penlan matters and to affray, two counts of possessing a bladed article, making threats to kill, and criminal damage over what happened in Abertillery.
Delaney, 19, of Penlan, Swansea, admitted robbery, two counts of attempted robbery, and one count of criminal damage.
Meanwhile, 20-year-old O’Neil, of Swansea, pleaded guilty to robbery and two counts of attempted robbery.
The court heard Rosser has previous convictions for assaulting a custody officer and shoplifting while Delaney has 10 previous convictions for 18 offences including for common assault, threatening behaviour, assaulting a police officer, dishonesty matters, and possession of lock knife outside a McDonald’s.
O’Neil has eight previous convictions for 11 offences including for inflicting grievous bodily harm when he attacked a man with a golf club in the street while shouting: “This is how we do it in Ireland”.
That incident left his victim with a fractured skull and bleeding on the brain.
Barrister Nicola Powell, for Rosser, said her client had been under the influence of a “concoction” of substances on the day in question and had described her own behaviour as “pathetic” and driven by drugs.
Ms Powell said Swansea council social services regarded Rosser as a “significantly vulnerable person”.
David Singh, for Delaney, said the defendant had a “limited recollection of what happened” on the night in question and was remorseful.
Huw Davies, for O’Neil – who refused to leave his cell for the sentencing hearing – asked the judge to bear in mind the defendant’s young age and asked him not to impose a sentence of such length that his client would “lose sight of his release date”.
Judge Geraint Walters said the three defendants could perhaps best be described as “feral” youngsters. He told them: “The three of you have no respect for anything or anybody – not even yourselves.
“Each of you had troubled upbringings but that cannot continue to be used as an excuse for serious antisocial behaviour which seems to know no limits and which, if anything, seems to be increasing in seriousness.
“You are all still young and I have to bear that in mind – I need to temper the guidelines to account for your ages.”
Delaney was sentenced to a total of two years and eight months behind bars.
The judge said a probation report into O’Neil has concluded he should be regarded as a dangerous offender and he posed a significant risk of causing harm to others in the future.Judge Walters said he agreed with that assessment but had decided not to impose an extended dangerousness sentence because of the defendant’s age.
O’Neil was sentenced to a total of four years.
The judge told the defendants the sentences they had received would have been significantly longer had they been older and he told themthey needed to start taking responsibility for their behaviour
