Homemade toxic spray was used on ex-girlfriend
SUBSTANCE IN
A VENGEFUL offender attacked his former girlfriend and her sister with pepper spray in Leicester city centre after a row over social media posts.
Kwame Eghan was jailed for two years and eight months for the crime at Leicester Crown Court after admitting to causing actual bodily harm to the two women at an earlier hearing in May.
The 31-year-old, of Ipswich Close, Beaumont Leys, also pleaded guilty to breaching a restraining order, and possessing the CS canister (classed as a firearm) when prohibited.
The attack happened on Thursday, March 13 this year as the two victims were leaving a Maryland Chicken fast food restaurant in the city centre.
The court heard that the two women were incapacitated by stinging and burning to their eyes and one of them suffered a panic attack, with several other customers also feeling the effects of the fumes.
Katrina Wilson, prosecuting, said Eghan had split up from his former partner - the mother of two of his children - in 2012 after a relationship of several years.
He had set fire to the woman’s home in an arson attack shortly after their break-up – for which he received a fourand-a-half year jail sentence – and was subject to an indefinite restraining order imposed in 2016.
The court was told that the sisters had been finishing their meal when the defendant walked in and threatened them.
A row ensued and, as the women stood in the doorway to the restaurant, Eghan produced a small aerosol canister and sprayed it in their faces repeatedly.
Miss Wilson said: “They closed their eyes to ease the pain and one of them had a panic attack and was struggling to breathe.
“They went back into the shop to ask for help, where others were also coughing from the spray in the air.”
The ex-girlfriend was “crying and screaming” in pain.
Both women, who suffered swollen and bloodshot eyes, were tended to by paramedics at the scene.
In a personal impact statement, the defendant’s former partner said she has been left scared to leave her home.
“I’m frightened something is going to happen and I’m going to get acid in my face,” she said.
Sentencing him, Judge Robert Brown said: “This was CS gas directed at two people’s faces, causing significant, albeit not lasting, discomfort.
“It was a public place in the middle of the day.”
In mitigation, Michael Garvey said Eghan had chanced on the two sisters in the city centre and was angry about social media posts “having a dig at him” which he felt the two victims were behind.
Mr Garvey said: “He had been at university in Coventry and narrowly avoided an attack 10 days before this.
“There had been a spate of attacks on students.
“He made this item himself from a deodorant can and obtained a recipe from the internet.
““He thought such a weapon would be better than a knife, for example, to protect himself.”
TWO Loughborough men will be among five to appear in court next month after police raided a cannabis farm.
Police discovered the grow in Thorpe Tilney, near Billinghay, Lincolnshire, when they executed a warrant there on June 9.
The five charged are: ■■Mirsad Beqja, 53, of Newbon Close, Loughborough;
■■William Buckberry, 31, of Sleaford Road, Thorpe Tilney, Lincolnshire;
■■Nimet Jacaj, 32, of Hyde Way, Sleaford, Lincolnshire;
■■Derirjan Ujkaj, 23, of Gradwell Street, Liverpool;
■■Klaidi Hasanas, 28, of Herbert Street, Loughborough.
They appeared at Lincoln Magistrates’ Court where Beqja, Jacaj and Ujkaj were remanded in custody to appear at Lincoln Crown Court on Monday, July 13.
Buckberry was granted conditional bail to appear at the crown court on the same date.
Hasanas was remanded in custody to appear on Tuesday, July 7.
A 28-year-old woman who was also arrested has been released under investigation.