Two men sentenced over car attack on NHS worker

Phillip Adams (L) and Patrick James (R) were convicted by a jury at Bristol Crown Court

Two men have been sentenced for severely injuring an NHS worker after hitting him with a car.

Phillip Adams, 26, and Patrick James, 22, were convicted by a jury at Bristol Crown Court on 27 September for conspiring to “unlawfully and maliciously” inflict grievous bodily harm to Katungua Tjitendero.

Mr Tjitendero, 25, was hit by a blue Honda Accord on the afternoon of 22 July 2020, near Southmead Hospital in Bristol, shortly after finishing a shift there.

Adams, of Southmead, Bristol, was sentenced in his absence to six years in jail, while James, of Lawrence Weston, Bristol, was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years for their role in the attack.

Adams had failed to appear in court throughout the trial, with police confirming they believe he is in Dubai and are working to have him returned to the UK as soon as possible.

Judge Moira Macmillan said Adams lacked the "courage to come to his trial and face up to what he's done".

During the sentencing she told James: “You were wearing face coverings and a racial slur was used by one of you, then you ran away.

“You were celebrating a job well done.

"This was a terrible thing to do to another person. It's been very hard to understand your behaviour.”

Katungua Tjitendero said he had never seen the men before, and had not been in dispute with anyone

Mr Tjitendero had been walking to a bus stop along Monks Park Avenue when the car mounted the pavement and hit him, forcing him onto the windscreen and pinning him against a wall.

Mr Tjitendero suffered a fractured fibula, fractured nose and lacerations to his head and both shins in the incident, the court was told. His injuries were so severe he required extensive plastic surgery.

Eyewitness Alison Adams described how the two men who ran from the vehicle had their hoods pulled up, with one wearing a “Scream” type mask, and the other with a scarf over his face.

The car was abandoned after the men fled the scene following the attack

The jury was told the case was not being prosecuted as a racially-motivated crime, but the defendants’ comments gave an impression of their state of mind.

Mr Tjitendero had chosen to be an essential worker at the hospital in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, to help serve his community.

Judge Macmillan said that as a result of the attack, he had been subjected to online speculation that he was involved with gangs and drugs, which had further contributed to his anguish.

Mr Tjitendero said he relied heavily on his family to help him through the "dark days"

In a victim impact statement read out to the court, Mr Tjitendero said that following the attack he struggled to walk or sleep due to the pain, and did not feel safe leaving his home.

"I have sought to find out, why me? Why did they target me?" he said.

"I am aware I'll never know the answer to this question, but I don't want this attack to define who I am."

Ms Tjitendero said as a mother, she felt "so helpless" when her she could not protect her son

In a statement read out by Det Supt Mike Buck, Mr Tjitendero's mother, Hivaka Tjitendero, said that justice had "finally been served".

"We love our lives, we love each other, we love living in Bristol, we love the city's diversity," she said.

"We feel nothing but pity for the hate-filled, inadequate people that carried out this cowardly attack. For they, and those like them, have nothing to offer but hate.

"I'm so proud of how my son has dealt with the unknown and rebuilt himself to the man that he is now.

"We will bounce back," she added.

James was also convicted of a second charge of causing grievous bodily harm with intent in relation to a separate incident in Avonmouth, just 10 days prior.

During an investigation into the attack on Mr Tjitendero, mobile phone footage found on James’ phone showed a cyclist, Julian Ford, riding his bike along a pavement before a Ford C-Max mounts the kerb and is driven into him.

"Patrick James you recorded the video, you came up behind him, and you were laughing as you knocked him off and drove away,” Judge Macmillan said.

“Julian Ford remembers waking up in an ambulance unable to breathe.”

Mr Ford suffered a fractured rib, a haemothorax, a lung injury and blood in his chest as a result of the attack.

Judge Macmillan added that there was “a degree of callousness” in the intent behind the video, as James had searched on his phone for the legal consequences of sharing such content.