8:18 am, May 28, 2024
The bosses of a Scottish car dealership have been found guilty of carrying out a brutal ‘revenge attack’ on a vandal who caused thousands of pounds of damage to vehicles on their forecourt.
Father-and-son team Gordon and Morgan Murray took matters into their own hands when Roberto Tudora was captured on camera pouring paint stripper onto cars at their Murray Motors showroom in Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire.
The pair are to said have gone to the 38-year-old’s nearby home and ‘battered him’ on his own doorstep.
Unfortunately for Gordon, 66, and Morgan, 32, the attack was heard by police after Tudora dialled 999.
In a separate 999 call, a neighbour told police that the duo had ‘ripped out’ their victim’s home security cameras before attempting to ‘do in’ Tudora.
The men appeared at Peterhead Sheriff Court accused of ‘punching and kicking’ the vandal in the savage attack on April 2, 2021 – just a week after the incident at the dealership.
A charge of striking Tudora on the head with a hammer was initially put forward before being deleted, the Press and Journal reports.
Also deleted were allegations that the pair repeatedly stamped on the victim’s body and hit with him with a metal pole.
Ruairidh McAllister, prosecuting, told the court: ‘Roberto Tudora is no angel, but time and time again his account ties in with other evidence we have heard.
‘It makes sense. Unlike the stories being spun by these two men – stories they have made up after events to explain away what they were doing in that house that day.
‘The two 999 calls made that morning caused some very, very big problems for these men.
‘They battered Roberto Tudora – and unbeknownst to them the police had been called.
‘[Roberto Tudora] was scared, and he phoned the police, leaving the phone on recording the whole nasty assault.
‘Mr Murray and his son had taken matters into their own hands. They were trying to find out who was behind the vandalism of their cars – and they were doing it violently.’
Car Dealer reported three years ago that a vandal had broken into Murray Motors and was caught on camera damaging several vehicles.
Tudora was later named as the culprit and sentenced to 150 hours of community service for the crime, following a plea deal which involved the damage being downgraded from £100,000 to £33,000.
Defending Gordon Murray over the apparent retribution, barrister Leonard Birkenshaw claimed that Tudora’s 999 call amounted to little more than ‘muffled scuffling’ in the background.
Morgan Murray’s defence agent, John McLeod, then accused the victim of trying to attack his client with a hammer.
He told the court: ‘He is a liar. He was truculent and at times evasive. Things took a silly turn and he tried to attack Morgan Murray with a hammer.
‘Morgan Murray then took that hammer away to stop anyone from being hurt.’
After hearing all the evidence, a jury took just two-and-a-half hours to convict the pair of hamesucken assault – or the assaulting of a person in his or her own house or dwelling place.
Sheriff Craig Findlater deferred sentencing to next month and background reports will now be prepared.
