Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Teenage drug dealer jailed for acid attacks
‘Vicious and violent man’ scarred trio he suspected of theft
A teenager who scarred three people in an acid attack in Canterbury has been described by a judge as a “vicious and violent man”.
Fahad Abdi, 18, squirted the corrosive liquid in the faces of his victims after putting on a mask and laying in wait for them in St Peter’s Street.
He denied the daylight attacks but was convicted by a jury following a trial at Canterbury Crown Court, where he was sentenced on Monday to nine years in a Young Offender Institution.
Judge James O’mahony told Abdi: “It is absolutely shocking to me that someone of your age could commit such a wicked and cowardly act.
“You are a vicious and violent man who decided that even though there was no evidence that any of your victims had done anything wrong, you were going to punish all three of them.”
At his trial last month a jury heard how east Londoner Abdi was selling Class A drugs out of the city home of Janet Durrant in St Peter’s Place.
But when he thought his stash of cocaine and cash had been stolen he went looking for revenge, blaming Ms Durrant and two of her friends, Emily Thompson and Justin Vincent.
Prosecutor Simon Taylor said Abdi had stored the drugs and money at the property and was dealing out of it in a practice known as “cuckooing”.
“This effectively involves finding a local drug user and using their home as a base for supplying drugs,” he said. “In return, the dealer gives the local drug user drugs as payment.”
But in February the illicit operation took a sinister twist.
“Things didn’t go to plan and some of his drugs were stolen from the property while he was out going about his business,” Mr Taylor said.
“Predictably, the defendant suspected that Miss Durrant, Miss Thompson or Mr Vincent were involved in the theft of his drugs.”
After several days of threats Abdi approached Ms Thompson and Mr Vincent at 4pm on February 10 and sprayed them in the face with the acid.
He fled the scene but returned 10 minutes later to spray Ms Durrant, with the attacks captured on CCTV.
Mr Taylor said: “Whatever this substance was it caused blistering and burns to the face, loss of sight, extreme pain, and swelling to each of the faces of the people targeted by the defendant.”
Abdi was arrested 40 minutes after the attacks at Canterbury East railway station as he tried to flee the city.
The jury heard that Ms Thompson and Mr Vincent would not co-operate with police in their investigation, but the prosecutor thanked the Kentish Gazette for supplying a photograph that was taken of Mr Vincent after he was interviewed for a story following the attack.
Abdi denied three counts of GBH with intent but was convicted on August 2.
Judge O’mahony told him on Monday: “This is about as bad a case as this court has heard in a very long time. You have showed yourself to be perfectly capable of menacing people with your extremely violent behaviour.”
The court heard Abdi, who must serve three extra years on licence after his release, had been found with £500 cash when he was stopped by police the day before the attack, but he was let go.
Commenting on the case, investigating officer DC Terence Seager said: “This public act of aggression left the victims with little time to protect themselves from what can only be described as a callous attack.
“Abdi has shown that even at such a young age he is capable of premeditated violence with absolutely no regard for life. This was a particularly vicious assault which has physically and emotionally scarred the victims.”