A UNIVERSITY student who was viciously attacked in a Coventry park has been told his head injuries mean he can never play football or any other contact sport again.
After hearing that attacker Abdul Abdul had a previous conviction for a similar incident, a judge passed a sentence which means he could be behind bars for more than ten years.
The judge told Abdul, who had kicked his victim George Savva to the head: “Not only was he lucky to live, but you were lucky he lived.”
Abdul (30) of Coventry Street, Coventry, had pleaded guilty at Warwick Crown Court to charges of inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent and assault.
He was given an extended sentence of ten-and-a-half years in prison, of which he will have to serve at least two-thirds before the Parole Board will even considered his release.
He will be freed before serving the whole sentence only if the Parole Board considers it safe to do so – and will then be on licence for the rest of the term and for a further three-and-a-half years.
Prosecutor Martin Liddiard said that on June 23 a group of university friends went out into Coventry city centre to celebrate the end of their studies and the end of term.
After leaving a nightclub in the early hours of the morning the group, including Mr Savva and Jack Miles, went into Primrose Hill Park, where they were ‘messing about.’
“The defendant came into the park and shouted to members of the group and began ranting, saying ‘I sell drugs and weapons.’
“He grabbed Mr Savva’s head and held him and kicked out at him, then asked Mr Miles for a cigarette, which was refused, and he became aggressive.
“He went up to Mr Savva and grabbed his foot, pulling his legs away from him, causing him to fall, and then kicked him in the face as hard as he could.”
Abdul then taunted the others, challenging them: “I’ve just attacked your boy, are you going to do something about it?”
He then kicked Mr Miles to the ribs before grabbing Mr Savva’s phone and throwing it back at the group, then leaving but returning to threaten that he was going to kill Mr Miles.
Mr Savva was helped away by his friends and taken by ambulance to hospital where it was found he had two fractures to the front of his skull, more fractures to his left eye socket and cheekbone, a bleed on the brain and an air cavity on the brain.
He was in hospital for nine days, but still needs to undergo further surgery to the skull fractures, and his vision is still not back to normal.
As a result of his injuries he was unable to complete a one-year internship or a work project he had been working on, and doctors have advised him that he cannot risk playing football or any other contact sport for the rest of his life.
Mr Liddiard added that Abdul had a record for violence, and in 2010 had been jailed for four years and eight months for grievous bodily harm with intent after he attacked a man in a bar in Weston-Super-Mare, breaking his jaw and leaving the imprint of his trainer on the victim’s neck.
Matthew Hardyman, defending, said that although there was no justification for the attack, Abdul had been struggling to cope with the loss of his younger brother who died after falling down a flight of stairs, and had been drinking too much because of that.
He said Abdul, who knew he was facing a lengthy sentence, regretted what he did and ‘says this isn’t the man I was hoping to be,’ and that he had hoped he had put such behaviour behind him.
Jailing Abdul, Deputy Judge Richard Griffith-Jones told him: “This is a grave offence. It was a hard kick from a powerful man to a man who was vulnerable after you had taken his legs from under him.
“The damage you did was enormous. In one sense, not only was he lucky to live, you were lucky he lived, because the only question would have been whether it was murder or manslaughter.
“That this is from someone whose pattern of offending and previous convictions for causing grievous bodily harm with intent demonstrates to me that you are a danger.”
