A drug dealer who blackmailed and assaulted a man in Bognor Regis over a £3,000 debt has been jailed for 11 years.
On Wednesday, 19 July, 2023, police received a 999 call from a concerned father, who had received desperate messages from his son saying he had been kidnapped.
Officers visited his property as the victim – a 22-year-old local man – returned home shortly after 9pm.
He reported having been taken in a van from a cemetery in Hawthorn Road at around midday, threatened with extreme violence and driven to a property in Bognor.
From there he was able to send messages to this father, before being bundled back into the van and stabbed in the leg with a screwdriver.
He managed to escape when the van stopped at traffic lights, before making his way home.
Two days later, on 21 July, 29-year-old Lashaun ‘Jay’ Kwatia was arrested in Bognor.
A separate investigation by the West Sussex Community Investigation Team found Kwatia had been running the JAY county drugs line, supplying crack cocaine and heroin.
A search of an address in Bognor found Class A drugs, cash and multiple mobile phones linked to Kwatia.
Kwatia, of Linden Grove in Southwark, was later charged and convicted of being concerned in the supply of Class A drugs, blackmail and causing actual bodily harm.
He was found not guilty of kidnap.
At Lewes Crown Court on Thursday (6 June), Kwatia was jailed for 11 years and given a restraining order of 20 years against the victim and another man.
In a Victim Impact Statement submitted to the court, Kwatia’s victim said: “I feel constantly on edge and twitchy all the time. Whenever I have to go into a small room or space, particularly a car, I start panicking and I flash back to the incident.
“I am now afraid of going outside, particularly of being seen by one of Jay’s associates. I feel like I have to be constantly vigilant and check around me which is incredibly draining.
“I have barely been leaving the house because of this fear, and I have stopped my work as a tree surgeon because I feel so stressed when I am outside.”
He described the impact on his parents, who are also forced to live in fear and wear tracking devices for reassurance.
Detective Constable Krishno Halley said: “This was a terrifying ordeal for this young man, whose desperate pleas to his father show his profound fear that his life was in danger.
“He and his family must now live with the long-lasting trauma from that day, living in fear for their own safety.
“I would like to thank him and all those who supported this investigation for their bravery and determination, that has seen a dangerous offender behind bars.”
