8:20am Wednesday 8th September 2010
By John Hoskins
A VICIOUS robbery had so badly affected the relationship of a couple they broke up, Southampton Crown Court heard.
The victim said the ordeal had also not only shattered his confidence and affected his work but was the major reason why he had moved out of Southampton.
He and his girlfriend had been walking home along Thomas Lewis Way at 2am on New Year’s Day when they became aware of two men behind them. One of them then felt his back pocket and then his front, demanding, “This is a mugging mate, this is a mugging. Give me everything you’ve got.”
His girlfriend screamed so much Jake Defreitas repeatedly told her to shut up and the victim became extremely scared for their safety.
Prosecutor Siobhan Linsley said when she tried to cross the road, the other man began dragging her by the arm. Defreitas then punched her boyfriend five times and when he retaliated with a punch, Defreitas threatened to kill him.
They left, taking the couple’s mobile phones as well as her scarf, jacket and other items, together worth about £700.
The victims flagged down a passing doctor and called the police. Defreitas was arrested a month later from blood he had left at the scene.
Defreitas, 17, formerly of Brintons Road, Southampton, but now living in St Austell, Cornwall, admitted two counts |of robbery and received a two- year detention and training order.
Recorder Susan Evans told Defreitas who had two previous convictions for robbery he and his unknown accomplice had terrified their victims. “Just imagine how you would feel if your girlfriend had suffered as she did that evening.”
‘Extremely frightening’ James Newton Price, defending, said the teenager accepted the robberies were extremely frightening for the couple and he had no illusions at their gravity. Since moving to Cornwall, he had made huge progress in his behaviour and was doing his best to persuade his younger brother not to follow in his footsteps.
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