Three masked men burst into the Chilwell house
A 42-year-old man from South East London has been convicted of taking part in a machete attack on a dad-of-three in the victim’s own home. Following a near two-week trial at Nottingham Crown Court a jury took just two hours to unanimously find Tyrone Dowdye guilty, of Herbert Road, Plumstead,of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm against Lifowe Chilink.
The trial heard how three masked men entered Mr Chilink’s Chilwell address in Nottingham and one of them slashed him in revenge for his son assaulting a prisoner behind bars. Dowdye, who had denied any involvement, stood at the door and filmed the attack in which a man clutching the machete was urged to “chop him”.
Later, a memory stick of the footage was found by a prison officer on top of his locker at HMP Manchester where Mr Chilink’s son, Judah, was serving time, to prove the deed had been carried out, the jury was told. The prosecutor said: “The prosecution say this was a revenge attack because of whatever incident Judah had been involved in at HMP Manchester and that the video on the USB had been deliberately placed on the locker so those inside were aware that the attack (in Chilwell) had taken place.”
In his video interview, played as evidence during the trial, the victim said: “I could see silhouettes through the glass of the front door and then three masked men came bursting in. I saw one of them run into the lounge where my wife was and he then came back and into the hallway where I was.
“I was on the stairs and he said ‘come down, come down’ I was sure I was going to die. He came up the stairs waving a machete around and I started to defend myself.
“He was hitting my body with it, the blows were coming into my left hand side. I grabbed the bannister to hoist myself up but he kept swinging. The handle was about 10cm long and the blade was around 30cm, it was metal shiny, silver.”
The attack happened at the victim’s address in Penrhyn Crescent, at 1.50pm on January 26, 2022.
Prosecutor David Earl, opening the trial, said while the victim was being struck with the blade another man was egging him on while Dowdye was standing by the front door filming it.
In a statement read to the jury Mr Chilink’s wife, Zebi, told how three people “came crashing in” while she was giving her eight-year-old daughter medication.
She said after the men fled she went to the hallway where her injured husband was. She said: “He was badly injured, there was a deep wound to his arm and he said to me ‘they have cut me everywhere’.”
Dowdye, who at the time of the incident was living in Kendal Drive, St Helens, Merseyside, and is now of Herbert Road, Plumstead, London, will be sentenced on April 30.
The other two men involved in the attack are still at large.
Don’t miss out on the biggest local stories. Sign up to our MySouthLondon newsletter HERE for all the latest daily news and more
