Mum’s pal ‘bound son’s legs and nailed him to the ceiling’

A SCHOOLBOY claimed his mum’s friend bound his legs with Sellotape and nailed him to the ceiling.

The eight-year-old said that James Menzies also zipped him inside a bag of tools and hung it from a nail for 20 minutes.

During the Sellotape incident, he claimed Menzies punched him several times as he dangled upside down next to the ceiling light in the hall.

The boy – who cannot be named for legal reasons – told a jury at Livingston Sheriff Court that the blows hurt.

He said: “I was crying and shouting ‘let me down’. I felt upset. I was scared I was going to fall. I felt that I was about to fall because I was wobbling. He was punching me at the same time like a punching bag.”

The boy said he was freed by his 15 year-old brother after his alleged attacker went upstairs to the toilet. He estimated he had been suspended upside down for a minute during the bizarre assault.

The youngster, who gave his evidence via a CCTV link, was aged between five and six when the alleged attacks took place.

He claimed that Menzies – who was supposed to look after him while his mother was out at work – had locked him alone in his bedroom, only letting him out for the evening meal.

He also claimed that the accused had “bullied” him on a daily basis from the moment he moved into the family home. He said: “Jim punched me every day.”

On the evening of the Sellotape assault the boy said he was sitting on the living room floor watching television with his brother. He told the court: “Jim just came up to me. He was punching me. He got some Sellotape from my mum’s drawer and he tied up my legs with it.

“The Sellotape went from just about my knee down to my foot. I got a wee bit off but it was wrapped all round my legs and I couldn’t get the rest off.

“He got hammers and nailed me up. He hung me upside down from the roof in the hall.”

Two days later he claimed Menzies had shoved him into a bag and hung it from a nail in the living room ceiling.

He said: “He put me in a bag and nailed me up. It had all his tools in it. I found a way out with Jim’s tools. The couch was underneath me and I just jumped out on to the couch.”

The youngster said he immediately phoned his mother to tell her what had happened.

“She came straight home and kicked Jim out,” he said.

Menzies, 35, of East Whitburn, denies assaulting the child by placing Sellotape around his hands and feet, putting him in a bag, hanging the bag on the wall and repeatedly punching him on the body. He is also accused of locking the boy in his room.

He further denies assaulting the boy’s teenage brother by pinning him to the ground with his legs on the youth’s body and repeatedly punching him on the body to his injury.

The offences are alleged to have been committed at a house in West Lothian o between August 1, and December 10, 2010. The trial continues.