A motorist said he thought 'it was the end' after he was brutally attacked by teen robbers who pounced and stole his Mercedes.
Aaron McKenna, then 18, sped off in the expensive car after its owner had been punched, repeatedly kicked to the face and threatened that he'd be stabbed. Brave members of the public intervened and apprehended his accomplice.
Brazen McKenna even tried to bargain with them after his friend had been caught and held, making a phone call to his pal from the stolen Mercedes.
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"He said he was with the car on Ancoats Street, if they brought his friend they could have the car back," prosecutor Suzanne Hargreaves told Manchester Crown Court.
But the phone was handed to police, and the Mercedes was later found on false plates and returned to its owner.
"I couldn't be more thankful for the people who helped me," the victim said.
"I thought it was the end, I was so terrified. It saddens me that this happens in modern day society."
The driver had parked his car on Temperance Street in Manchester city centre, just off the Mancunian Way, in April last year.
"Give me the keys or we will knife you," he was told as he returned to the vehicle just before 7pm. He was punched and kicked, and his chest and head were stamped on.
McKenna got into the car after the keys were wrestled from the victim, before he sped off and drove towards bystanders as he escaped. The victim suffered cuts and bruises, and a broken finger.
About a year earlier McKenna was involved in another robbery, when his victim was surrounded by youths armed with knives. He had agreed to sell a moped which he had renovated via Facebook Marketplace.
Shortly after arriving at the agreed location in Miles Platting in May 2020, his victim was cornered by five or six youths carrying knives. He fled, terrified, leaving without the moped.
McKenna was prosecuted under joint enterprise laws after a phone number which the victim had been in contact with prior to the robbery was linked to him.
The moped was later found at the side of a canal, beyond repair, having been pulled from the water.
McKenna, now 19, Ridgway Street, Miles Platting, has been jailed for six years, after pleading guilty to two counts of robbery and dangerous driving as well as separate offences of assault by beating, criminal damage and breaching a restraining order.
His barrister, Niamh Ingham, said McKenna had displayed a 'lack of maturity' and had been diagnosed with ADHD.
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