Self-defence ‘excessive’
ASYLUM SEEKER JAILED AFTER BREAKING LEG OF MAN WHO RACIALLY ABUSED HIM IN THE STREET
AN asylum seeker broke the leg of a man who racially abused him in Huddersfield town centre, a court was told.
Tinasue Gurure was given a 13-month prison sentence after admitting carrying out the offence as he was angry and upset after being subjected to the racist insults.
Leeds Crown Court heard the 31-year-old used ‘excessive self defence’ when he retaliated after the man shouted the insult at him and tried to grab him in a headlock.
Prosectuor Nicoletta Alistari said the incident happened in Huddersfield town centre on October 5 last year.
She said there was an ‘altercation’ between the defendant and the man.
The man tried to get Gurure in a headlock.
Gurure fought back and the two men fell to the floor during a struggle.
Gurure fell on top of the man, causing him to break his leg.
Miss Alistari said the man was taken to hospital and had to undergo surgery to have a pin inserted to his bone.
Gurure was under the influence of drink and drugs at the time of the offence, the court was told.
Gurure, of Carlton Street, Fartown, pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm.
The court was told that he has 44 previous convictions, including for offences of assaulting a police officer and being drunk and disorderly.
Catherine Duffy, mitigating, said Gurure accepted that he had used excessive force after being provoked and verbally abused by the other man.
However, she added: “It was a racial insult which the defendant found upsetting.”
Miss Duffy said her client had a background of working in social care, providing support for the elderly and people with learning difficulties.
The barrister said Gurure was a Zimbabwean national who was claiming asylum in the United Kingdom.
She said he had been brought up in children’s homes in Africa and had been forced to do hard labour.
He has been in custody for almost six months since he was arrested after the incident.
Sentencing Gurure, Judge Simon Phillips QC said: “You accept lashing out with excessive self defence.”