Vicious Hackney Downs attack sees dad, 38, beaten up, threatened with knife and robbed of jewellery worth £3k
Wayne Coker shows the bruises and scratches on his arm. Picture: Polly Hancock - Credit: Archant
A hooded gang hurled their mountain bikes at a disabled man and ripped gold chains worth thousands from his neck as he walked through Hackney Downs.
Bruising and scratches on Wayne Coker's leg following the attack in Downs Park Road. Picture: Polly Hancock - Credit: Archant
Dalston man Wayne Coker, 38, was heading to see his partner and their eight-month-old daughter in Upper Clapton when the cowards set upon him on Friday night.
They laid into him for five minutes as he desperately clung on to his rings, which have sentimental value, threatening him with a blade as they punched him. He’d been on the phone to his partner, who was forced to listen to the horrifying ordeal.
When police found slightly built Wayne he was unconscious. He believes the gang tasered him in the back before running off with the haul, worth about £3,000.
“I’m scared to go out,” Wayne, who is unable to work due to ill health, told the Gazette this week. “I’m lucky to be alive after what they’ve done. It was like I was drowning.
Some of the jewellery that was taken, photographed on Wayne's baby daughter. Picture: Wayne Coker - Credit: Archant
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“I’m just glad my daughter wasn’t with me.”
The horror unfolded when three young men approached Wayne on mountain bikes and asked for a cigarette before suddenly lunging for his neck. “I had 10 rings on and they couldn’t get to them,” he said, “but they took my bracelets and chains.”
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Asked to describe his injuries, he said: “I can barely walk. They did my ribs, legs and arms. They were swinging their bikes on top of me.
“The hurtful thing about it is most of the jewellery was sentimental. It belonged to my mum, dad and brother, and they’re not with me.”
Wayne described his attackers as black, six feet tall and in their early 20s. They were wearing tracksuits.
He added his partner was mugged a few years ago nearby and he wanted more done to warn people about gangs operating in the area.
A Met spokesman said: “Police were called to Hackney Downs at 11.10pm on Friday following reports of a robbery. Officers attended and found a 38-year-old man who had been robbed at knifepoint and assaulted.
“The suspects made off on pedal cycles towards Amhurst Road.”
Anyone with information is asked to call police on 101.
