Uncle and nephew beat man unconscious at Leeds bus stop before claiming racism
A nephew and his drunken uncle beat a man unconscious and almost blinded him as he waited with his partner at a bus stop in Leeds city centre.
Tazambil Ditta and Mohammed Yasin launched the unprovoked attack on The Headrow, then later claimed the victim and his girlfriend had directed racist slurs at them, which a judge at Leeds Crown Court rubbished.
The pair were found guilty of Section 18 GBH (with intent) after a trial and the pair were jailed this week for a combined total of more than 13 years.
The victim and his partner had been at a concert in the city centre on the evening of September 8 last year. They later bought a takeaway and sat at the bus stop waiting to go home in the early hours of the next morning.
Prosecutor David Ward said Ditta and Yasin were in the area hurling abuse at people walking by. They had picked on a lone young man who was minding his own business, the court heard.
When the victim’s girlfriend interjected and asked what they were doing, they called her a “s***” and a “b****”.
The victim asked why they were causing trouble and they turned their attention to him, with Ditta squaring up and punching him. They fell to the floor with Ditta getting on top of the man.
Yasin then ran up and kicked him to the head while Ditta rained blows on him “as hard as he could”. The man lost consciousness as horrified witnesses rang the emergency services.
The victim suffered a gash to his face that required 15 stitches and a loose tooth. He also required urgent surgery to his eye on which he had previously had treatment for cataracts.
He lost much of the vision in his eye due to the assault, but an ophthalmologist’s report presented to the court said there had been some improvement since then.
Yasin and Ditta were both later arrested. During their interview Ditta claimed they had been racially abused, with the couple telling them to speak English and Ditta claiming they had been told to “go back to Romania”, despite them being of Pakistani origin.
Yasin, 34, said he tried to break the confrontation up between his uncle and the victim, and kicked the man on the floor to separate them.
Ditta, 50, claimed he was acting in self defence, which he conceded was excessive. He later admitted to Section 20 GBH (without intent), which was rejected by the Crown.
The jury found them both guilty of the more serious Section 18 GBH with a unanimous verdict.
Both have previous convictions and have spent time in prison, with Yasin serving time for false imprisonment and Ditta for burglary.
They both appeared in court via video link from HMP Leeds, where they were being held on remand.
Judge Howard Crowson conceded that Yasin had initially acted as a peacemaker and that Ditta was “clearly intoxicated”.
He rejected outright that the woman had been racist, but she was merely speaking up for the lone man they had been verbally abusing.
Ditta, of Well Close Rise, Woodhouse, was jailed for seven-and-a-half years. Yasin, of Spen Approach, West Park, was jailed for six years.