Sale man blinded in one eye while kidnapped and tortured by gang – all because of a damaged X-Box

[dropcap type *circles”]A Sale man received horrific injuries and nearly died after being kidnapped and tortured by a gang of four men, over a dispute involving a damaged X-Box.

A court heard that among  his injuries were the loss of sight in the right eye; several burns; a punctured lung; a broken jaw; many cuts, and extensive bruising.

Detective Inspector Helen Bell, from GMP’s Trafford Borough, said:”This was a horrifying,vicious and sustained attack. The level of terror and the violence that the victim was subjected to was like something out of horror film. He was lucky to escape with his life and medical professionals stated he would have possibly not  survived if the specialist police teams had not got to him when they did.”

Two men and a 17 year old boy received  prison sentences, another man will be sentenced at a later date,  after the court heard that the dispute started  over a damaged X-Box. On Thursday May 19 in 2016, their victim, a 20 year old man from Sale, was seen by a friend of the four offenders, at Stretford Job Centre, and was confronted about a damaged X-Box.  The victim was given the option to pay for a new X-Box, which he couldn’t afford, or deal drugs on the behalf of the owner, which he did not want to do.

He was then kidnapped and taken to a house where his ordeal began.

Eshan Abtahi

Eshan Abtahi, aged 37, of Manor Road,  Sale, was sentenced to 11 years and eight months, after pleading guilty to GBH with intent; kidnap and making threats to kill. Philip Riley, 36, of Moor Lane, Northern Moor, Manchester was sentenced to five years and five months in prison after pleading guilty to false imprisonment and GBH. A third man – Daniel Allen, 30, also pleaded guilty to false imprisonment and GBH, but will be sentenced  at a later date.  A 17-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has also been sentenced to 18 months in prison.

Abtahi,  Allen and Riley, first ordered the victim to do some gardening, but then the abuse escalated and he was then put in the middle of a living room with his head covered and beaten and tortured for hours.

Philip Riley

The three men and the 17 year old boy kept the victim overnight where he was subjected to further violence and threats. Allen called the victim’s mother and threatened to  kill him if she didn’t get a replacement X-Box.  The torture continued into the next day when the victim was moved and taken to Abtahi’s to Sale

Police managed to rescue the victim after they received information which led to Abtahi’s home.

DI Bell said:”These men will spend the foreseeable future behind bars, and the victim will be recovering from the mental scars in years to come – all over an X-Box.

”There have been few occasions in my career where I have witnessed such sickening and senseless violence.  I would like to commend the victim for his bravery. I am glad we have been able to get him the justice he deserves.  He wasn’t well enough to tell the police what had happened to him for several days.  The victim told  police he believed he was going to die”