Victim needed stitches after pool cue attack outside Coventry nightclub

[dutchman]

Three men involved have been given suspended sentences



A brawl outside a Coventry nightclub left a victim with nine stitches in his chin after he was attacked with a pool cue.

A court heard the fight happened when an argument started outside Kasbah, with one man leaving to get two friends, one of whom had armed himself with the cue.

In the fight that followed, one of their victims was hit in the face with the cue.

But Mohammed Bilal, Shuab Ahmed, who had wielded the cue, and Mohammed Saleem all pleaded not guilty at Warwick Crown Court to unlawful wounding.

And on the day of their trial their pleas of guilty to an alternative offence of affray were accepted by the prosecution, and all three were given suspended sentences.

Ahmed, 22, of Webster Street, Coventry, was sentenced to 12 months suspended for 18 months, and was ordered to pay £1,000 compensation to his victim James Franklin.

Bilal, 22, of Foleshill Road, Coventry, who instigated the conflict, was sentenced to 10 months suspended for 18 months, and was ordered to do 160 hours of unpaid work and also to pay £1,000 compensation.

Saleem, 20, of George Street, Coventry, who was said to have been the least involved, was given a six-month sentence, also suspended for 18 months, and was ordered to do 120 hours of unpaid work and to pay £500 compensation.

Prosecutor Stuart Clarkson said that on March 28 Mr Franklin had been with his friends James Robinson and Gavin Cox and two young women in the Kasbah nightclub in Coventry.

They left at 4am and were standing nearby while some of them had a cigarette when Bilal approached one of the girls – but was told by one of the group to go away.

He accused Mr Robinson of being a racist and demanded an apology, but he refused and told him to ‘f*** off’.

Bilal left, threatening that he was going to get his ‘boys’ – and five minutes later he returned with Ahmed, who was armed with a pool cue, and Saleem.

Saleem approached Mr Franklin, swearing at him and pushing at his chest, and pushed him over the bonnet of a taxi.

He tried to get off, and was then struck to the face by Ahmed with the pool cue, which was later found discarded in some nearby shrubs, as Mr Robinson was also pushed by the others.

As a result of the blow, Mr Franklin had a 4cm cut to his chin which needed nine stitches, said Mr Clarkson.

Doormen took part of the registration number of the car the three left in, and they were arrested when the police stopped it a little later, but made no comment when they were interviewed.

Sentencing the three, Judge Carmel Wall said: “Before that incident, none of you had been in trouble, and since that incident none of you has been in any trouble.

“You Mr Bilal were offended by a comment. You left, and should have stayed away, but instead you got your friends involved and returned; and you, Mr Ahmed, had with you a pool cue.

“The seriousness of the offence is that the three of you came back to the scene with a weapon, and that weapon was used to cause injury, and it happened in a public street at night.”