A man and woman have been sentenced to over 15 years in prison after the violent kidnap, blackmail, and assault of a man last summer in Oldham that left him scarred for life.
Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court heard how the victim, a man in his 40s – arrived to meet his ex-partner Sarah Davies (33) at an address on Edmund Street on a morning back in August last year
While inside the address, Davies’ friend Steven Wynnyk (41) beat the victim with a metal pole before subjecting him to over 12 hours of mental and physical abuse that a Judge described as ‘torture’.
Boiling water was thrown on the victim’s head, he was threatened, and he was told he’d be buried.
Then, as demands were being made for money, Wynnyk and Davies put a bag over the victim’s head and put him in a car where he was driven to various locations across Oldham and was left burnt with cigarettes.
After going to the victim’s mum’s address and taking hundreds of pounds in cash and via bank transfer, the victim was released by Davies and Wynnyk who made off.
The man was left with partial thickness burns to the head, a laceration to the back of his head, and scarring from cigarette burns – injuries from what the Judge referred to as ‘thuggery’.
Both Davies and Wynnyk took the case to trial before Davies pleaded guilty on the first day to single counts of kidnap and blackmail.
Wynnyk continued to deny the accusations throughout a seven-day trial before he was found unanimously guilty by a jury of all eight counts of kidnap, blackmail, and assault.
Wynnyk, of Edmund Street, was sentenced to nine years in jail; Davies, of Wyndham Avenue, Swinton, was ordered to serve six years and four months.
The Judge also suggested a victim surcharge and compensation for the victim would be established.
Detective Sergeant Keri Alldritt, of GMP Oldham, said: “Whatever sentence was to be passed down today, nothing could change the fact that the victim of this prolonged and violent attack will be subjected to lifelong physical and mental scars.
“This brutal ordeal has left a man traumatised and the impact cannot be measured.
“Wynnyk and Davies should be utterly ashamed of their remorseless and almost sadistic actions and it is right that they spend such a lengthy spell behind bars to reflect on the misery they have inflicted on an innocent man.
“Serious and violent crime such as this can often go unnoticed in communities but this case shows that any information we get about such attacks will be robustly investigated and offenders will be resoundingly brought to justice.”
