Attackers caged for vicious attack on street victim

The complainant, from Lithuania, had been drinking with friends at a house in Ravensthorpe, Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, on April 26 when he went out to buy some more alcohol.

The next thing he knew he was in hospital with injuries to his face, head and back including having had a tooth knocked out, Simon Batiste, prosecuting, told Leeds Crown Court yesterday.

A witness told police he had seen him on the ground in Bradford Street, Dewsbury, and later identified Jamil Ellahi as the person he had seen jumping on his head with both feet while Umar Hussain was kicking and swearing at him in Urdu.

While he phoned police he saw Hussain walking away but Ellahi kicked the man and punched him until he stopped moaning. Both then walked away, staggering as if they had been drinking, and laughing.

He heard Hussain say "You have killed him" but then, Mr Batiste said, their victim began moaning again and they went back to him, both kicking him again before they dragged him down a ginnell.

Once there they removed his trousers and one took out a lighter and told him they were going to set fire to him.

Another witness who saw the kicking described the incident as "brutal". When police arrived they found the victim still on the ground slipping in and out of consciousness.

The two defendants were arrested nearby and Ellahi told officers he did not like paedophiles and if "coppers don't do their job and arrest paedos I'll do their job for them".

Mr Batiste said the complainant had no convictions for sex offences and Sam Andrews, representing Ellahi, told the court he accepted there was no foundation for any such an allegation.

Ellahi, 21 of Clarkson Street, Dewsbury, was jailed for eight months and Hussain, 20, of Field Lane, Dewsbury, was sent to a young offender institution for four months after they admitted the assault.

Sentencing them, Judge Alastair McCallum said: "This was an attack in the street on a man who was clearly drunk, why you attacked him is beyond me and why you attacked him with such violence is beyond me."

He said it was fortunate he had not suffered more serious injuries and was able to leave hospital after two days.

Mr Andrews said it was accepted it was nasty and unpleasant offence when Ellahi and his co-accused were the worse for alcohol.