Mohammed Fahir Amaaz has been found guilty of brutally assaulting police officers at Manchester Airport.
Amaaz, 20, of Tarnside Close, Rochdale, was convicted of the following offences, which were committed at the airport on Tuesday, 23rd July 2024:
- Assault by beating of Abdulkareem Hamzah Abbas Ismaeil (unanimous verdict).
- Assault occasioning actual bodily harm of PC Lydia Ward (unanimous verdict).
- Assault by beating of PC Ellie Cook, a constable who was acting in exercise of functions as an emergency worker (majority verdict).
The verdicts came after jurors had been deliberating for ten hours.
The jury was unable to reach a verdict in relation to Amaaz's alleged assault of PC Zachary Marsden.
Amaaz's brother, Muhammad Amaad, 26, was also accused of assault occasioning actual bodily harm on PC Zachary Marsden, but the jury was unable to reach a verdict on that matter either.
The maximum sentence for the most serious of these offences, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, is 5 years' custody.
Whenever there are multiple offences committed on the same occasion, convention is that any sentences are imposed concurrently. That being the case the maximum possible sentence available to the court is 5 years' custody in relation to the assault occasioning actual bodily harm; 2 years' custody in relation to the assault on an emergency worker (to run concurrently); 26 weeks' custody in relation to the assault by beating of Mr Ismaeil (to run concurrently). This would give a maximum possible overall sentence of 5 years' custody.
Amaaz will not be sentenced today, as a pre-sentence report will be required beforehand. The sentence imposed will be determined by consideration of the most serious offence, which is the actual bodily harm of PC Ward. Trial judge HHJ Neil Flewitt will then factor in the other offences, adjusting the overall sentence to reflect the totality of Amaaz's offending.
When sentencing the judge will apply the relevant sentencing guideline for assault occasioning actual bodily harm, which can be viewed here. It is likely the judge will view the offence as one of greater culpability (prolonged and persistent) and medium harm (PC Ward's broken nose, unpleasant as it undoubtedly was, would probably not be considered a serious physical injury).
That would give a sentencing starting point of 18 months' custody. The judge would then take into account aggravating and mitigating factors, adjusting the starting point sentence accordingly. Finally the judge would consider matters in the round and adjust the sentence to reflect totality. Having been convicted at trial, Amaaz will not be entitled to any credit. Given my interpretation of events, I think any overall sentence in excess of about 2 years' is pretty unlikely.
Of course sentencing is a matter entirely for HHJ Flewitt, who may well read things differently.
The CPS has said it will consider whether or not a retrial is appropriate in relation to the alleged assaults on PC Marsden.
7 comments:
I didn't know there was an offence of "brutally assaulting" a person??? Which statutory provision is this?
The assault upon the innocent man away from the parking paypoint is not part of the same series of offending and any sentence should be consecutive.
If your mark is 2 years imprisonment I shall buy the spread at £50/month.
This is one of the most serious cases of assault PC in years.
In most airports in the world the police would have shot first and asked questions later.
I would expect all three offences to be sentenced in totality. Sentencing the battery could be problematic, as there is no indication of the injuries Mr Ismaeil received (if any). I don't think it will be sentenced consecutively, but this lack of information makes it even less likely I would say.
I don't think I'll be too far off the mark, but we might need to wait a while to find out.
For some people, the violent assault on female police officers showed the misogyny of the Islamic faith. Do you think the judge will view the actions of a Muslim man beating a woman as being a religiously aggravating factor?
I doubt it, unless there is some evidence pointing in that specific direction. I don't think there is.
Why didn't the judge dismiss the case for contempt of court due to all the online commentary? Clearly some comments were brought to his attention, as he said "There has been a lot written and said about this case both in the mainstream media and on social media. Many of the comments on social media have been inaccurate and, at times, offensive. Some of them undoubtedly amount to contempt of court."
It's enough if the commentary (which has to be addressed to the public at large or any section of the public) creates a substantial risk that the course of justice in the proceedings in question will be seriously impeded or prejudiced. But I can't think of a case where a judge has dismissed a defendant's charges for contempt of court. Can you?
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