TWINS LOCKED UP AFTER STUDENT BRICK ATTACK

But third brother involved spared custody

TWO brothers have been locked up after attacking a student with bricks – leaving him with a fractured cheekbone and eye socket.

Twenty-one-year-old twins Zubair and Umayr Mahmood were sentenced to two years and three months in youth custody following the attack on September 6, 2019.

Their younger brother Numan Mahmood received a suspended 22-and-a-half month sentence for his role in the incident.

All three brothers, of Meir Street, Tunstall, were sentenced at Stokeon-trent Crown Court after pleading guilty to causing grevious bodily harm with intent.

Prosecutor Jaspreet Dhaliwal said the victim had been driving along Tunstall High Street on September 6 when he saw the Mahmoods, with Umayr and Zubair shouting threats at him.

He continued to drive home and turned into Cope’s Avenue, where he saw Zubair standing on the corner of an alleyway.

Zubair called out to him saying: “Come up here, if there’s a problem we can sort it.” The victim, not believing there was any issue between the two, got out of his car and walked over, followed by his friend who was also in the vehicle.

Mr Dhawliwal said: “As they both entered the alleyway they could see Numan and Umayr Mahmood standing approximately four or five feet away from Zubair. They had their hands behind their backs, appearing to be hiding something. All three defendants then began to shout at the victim. They threatened to stab him and cut him up.

“As they continued to advance upon him, Umayr walked to the left hand side, and when he was distracted by Zubair, he hit him to the face with a brick. He immediately felt a pain and blood running down his face.

“He fell to the ground, and he was hit by another brick, this time thrown by Numan Mahmood. Just before the three defendants ran off, he was kicked by all three men, including to the head.”

The court heard that the victim was taken to hospital where he was found to have a fractured cheekbone and lower eyesocket. He also had concussion and a cut to the back of the head.

In his victim impact statement, the student, said some of his injuries had taken six months to heal, and that he had also suffered from flashbacks and anxiety, which had affected his studies.

Paul Cliff, mitigating for Numan Mahmood, noted that his client, who is now aged 20, was only 17 when the assault took place.

He added: “This is a young man who has no previous convictions, has no cautions, no warnings recorded against him.

“It can be said in this case with some conviction that this is offending genuinely out of character.”

Ryan Hodgins, mitigating for Zubair and Umayr, told the court that the brothers now acknowledged that they had ‘made a huge mistake that will impact the rest of their lives’.

Judge David Fletcher accepted the defendants’ basis of plea that the assault had been a joint enterprise. But he said the fact that Numan was a child at the time of the incident meant his sentence could be reduced and suspended.

Judge Fletcher noted the seriousness of the assault, saying: “He was attacked by the three of you, with the utilising of fists and kicking, but also, and pivotally in this case, utilising a brick or bricks.

“It’s quite clear having read the reports of the doctors, that the utilisation of that object is the principle cause of the injuries we’ve heard described to us.”