The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Victim of gang attack selling business
Shop owner beaten in race-hate assault ‘lucky not to have been killed’
A Fife takeaway owner brutally assaulted the day after the Paris terrorist attacks is giving up the family business after more than two decades.
Mohammed Khalid is still too traumatised to return to the Caspian fast food outlet in Methil, almost two months after he was beaten. He said he still has nightmares and flashbacks and no longer feels safe.
The father and grandfather opened his Wellesley Road shop 25 years ago and worked hard to create a successful business. The 53- year- old is heartbroken at the thought of giving it all up but said he took the decision for the sake of his health and his family.
“I built that place up from nothing 25 years ago but now I cannot bear to be there because of these men who attacked us,” he said.
Mr Khalid suffered a severe eye injury after being subjected to a sustained attack by several people outside his premises as he and wife Maqsooda, 55, tried to close for the night.
Shouts of Isis were heard during the 1am assault, the day after the Paris atrocities which claimed the lives of 130 people.
Seven men aged between 16 and 35 have since been reported to the procurator fiscal in connection with the incident. Police said it was the worst of 64 racially-motivated attacks in the hours after the Paris murders.
“I never thought something like this could happen to us,” Mr Khalid said. “Now that it has, I have to think of my health and my family.
“We were lucky not to have been killed, lucky not to have suffered even worse injuries than we did.
“Maybe next time we would not have been so lucky.
“I have decided to sell up and stay at home to play with my five grandchildren.”
He added: “What happened in Paris had nothing to do with us. It was not done in our name.”
Mr Khalid said members of the community have been very supportive since the attack and expressed a hope they would continue to use the shop once it changes hands.