A MAN who smashed his way into a neighbour’s flat and attacked him in bed with a pair of dumbbells did so because he thought his victim had given him AIDS, a court heard.

Aron Balongo, 23, wore a “Halloween monster mask” while carrying out the vicious assault which was witnessed by the victim’s partner and her two young children in November last year.

Appearing at Bolton Crown Court, Balongo, who was sectioned following the incident, was sentenced to six years imprisonment after pleading guilty to aggravated burglary.

Andrew Evans, prosecuting, said Balongo, of Browmwich Street, Bolton, broke into the home of his neighbour at around 6.15am on November 1, 2019 by smashing the living room window of his ground floor flat.

The victim was in bed with his partner on the floor of the living room when Balongo climbed in and attacked him with two metal bars that were later found to be dumbbells.

The pair began fighting with Balongo hitting him around the head several times before the victim’s partner ran into an adjacent bedroom and protect her children who had woken up.

The victim managed to remove Balongo’s mask and recognised him instantly as a neighbour who he had work with on construction sites.

After around three minutes Balongo escaped back through the window leaving his victim with deep wounds to his head, knee and shin which required hospital treatment.

Mr Evans said Balongo’s name was “rapidly circulated on the street” and soon after the incident he handed himself in at Bolton Police Station where he told officers he had “been given two teaspoons of blood by a Polish man and now I have AIDS so I have just been round to his house and killed him”.

Balongo, who appeared via videolink from HMP Forest Bank, was arrested with officers saying he spat at and tried to bite them.

He was taken to Salford Royal Hospital where he was diagnosed with having suffered drug-induced psychosis, detained under the Mental Health act and subsequently treated at Whiston Hospital on Merseyside for 19 days.

David Bruce, defending, said Balongo, who had no previous convictions, showed “very significant remorse” and was now “emotionally stable”.

“He is doing very well and not showing any signs of mental illness,” added Mr Bruce, who said Balongo had served in the Forces for two years but had been dishonourably discharged due to cocaine use.

“He was extremely ill and it is important to his future that he remains off illicit drugs and continues to take his anti-psychotic drug.

“He had a dreadful upbringing and his father was extremely violent to him, beating him on a daily basis.”

Sentencing Balongo, Judge Martin Walsh said various reports indicated the defendant was fit to plead and he did not have to make a Hospital Order.

“The fact of the matter is this was an offence committed by you when you were in a deluded state,” added Judge Walsh. “But that was due to you taking illicit drugs and you had effectively put yourself in the position whereby the offence was committed.”