A thug went for a beer with his girlfriend after knocking a Sikh leader out and callously leaving him in a pool of his own blood in the middle of the road. Avtar Singh, 62, suffered life-changing brain injuries following the sickening assault at the hands of Claudio Campos in Manchester’s Northern Quarter on June 23.
When police turned up to arrest Campos at his Fallowfield home on September 7, following a successful public appeal, they discovered a fully packed suitcase on top of a cupboard. In his interview, the 28-year-old accused Mr Singh of ‘touching his girlfriend’s bottom’ and claimed that he punched him as a result.
CCTV footage shown at Manchester Crown Court showed Campos walking with his girlfriend along Hilton Street and Mr Singh, who was making his way home from work, passing them. Campos then gestured towards Mr Singh and started following him towards Tib Street.
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Realising that he was being followed, Mr Singh tried to get away but Campos sped up and punched him twice to the side of the face. While grabbing the back of Mr Singh’s shirt, Campos then punched him for a third time, knocking him to the ground.
Campos was dragged down as Mr Singh fell, but got back up and fled the scene, briefly stopping to look back. He then re-joined his girlfriend and went to Ancoats bar Second City, where card transactions show that he bought a burger and a beer, prosecution barrister Eleanor Myers said.
Following the assault, at around 6.30pm, Mr Singh was rushed to hospital where he was diagnosed with a severe traumatic brain injury, a number of bleeds on the brain, and multiple facial fractures. As of today (October 6) he still remains in hospital, the court heard.
Around 10 weeks after the incident, Greater Manchester Police (GMP) made a public appeal for information, releasing CCTV footage of the assault, along with photographs of Campos and his girlfriend. After receiving information, they carried out a warrant at Campos’ home in Ladybarn Lane, on September 7.
At the property, they found clothes matching those that he was wearing in the video. They also found a Chilean passport and a fully packed suitcase.
“Police believed that he intended to leave the property soon,” Ms Myers told the court. Campos was arrested and admitted to attacking Mr Singh during his interview.
He told police that the couple had been celebrating their fifth anniversary and his girlfriend complained that Mr Singh had ‘touched her bottom’. Campos said that he followed Mr Singh and that when he tried to get away, he believed this was an admission of guilt.
Campos told police that he ‘panicked’ when he realised that Mr Singh was not moving and after re-joining his girlfriend, he said: “Let’s walk please, I’ve done something really bad”. He admitted to going for a beer and a burger and claimed to have gone back to the scene later to check on Mr Singh. However this was not shown on CCTV.
Campos pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm at Manchester Magistrates’ Court on September 8 and has been remanded in custody ever since.
Defending, Abigail Henry told the court that Campos is of “hitherto good character”, with no previous convictions. She added that he is “genuinely remorseful” for the incident.
Jailing Campos for three years, Judge Hilary Manley said: "Avtar Singh was aged 62 when you, without any justifiable reason, attacked him in the street in broad daylight in the busy streets of this city centre.
"Mr Singh has been described by his shattered and broken family as a humble, gentle and peaceable man, a devoted follower of and priest within the Sikh faith, who regularly carried out selfless acts of charity for those in need of help; a supportive, humorous, loving and hardworking husband and father. As a direct result of your decision to attack him, his life, and the lives of his family, are forever traumatised, changed and diminished.
"You left him, clearly seriously injured, lying in the middle of the street. As far as his family are concerned, and given what you later told the police, you left him for dead. He is still alive, but his life bears no resemblance to what it was.
"He has suffered severe and ongoing cognitive and physical impairments, which are almost inevitably going to be with him for the rest of his life. At present, almost four months on, he remains in hospital."
She continued: "Your victim, Mr Singh, was simply making his way through the city according to his usual routines. He was troubling nobody. He gave you no reason at all to do what you did. It appears that as a result of something your girlfriend told you (and she has provided no information herself), you took it upon yourself to follow him, pester him, and then, despite his efforts to get away from you, without warning, punch him twice to his head.
"You then grabbed his shirt, as he still tried to escape you, and delivered another punch, this one powerful enough to put him immediately, face down, to the ground, with you on top of him. You levered yourself back up by pressing down on your prone victim’s back, before coolly and calmly walking away. You looked back at him and could see he was motionless still, face down in the middle of the road, but you continued on your way, leaving him there.
"You and your girlfriend then went to a bar and had drinks and food, for over an hour. This despite you knowing that you had badly injured Mr Singh. Thereafter you went to ground. You did not go to the police. Within days, reports and stills from CCTV footage were being circulated in the media and on social media. You knew what you had done. You knew how your actions had affected your victim. You knew the police were looking for you. You did nothing.
"The police had to come to you, which they finally were able to do, after several press releases and appeals for information led them to your door. It was clear to them that you knew they were closing in: your suitcase was packed and ready to go."
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