Man who attacked litter warden to have sentence reviewed
A thug who attacked a council litter warden will have his "unduly lenient" sentence reviewed at the Court of Appeal.
Raja Malik attacked the officer working on behalf of Dudley Council in August last year, breaking a stick over his back.
Body-cam footage showed the moment the victim was set upon in Kates Hill after going to fine women he had seen flicking cigarette butts from a car window.
When the litter officer said he would call the police, Malik replied: "You call police and I'll f***ing take your head off".
He then added: "Get the f*** off my property you white motherf***er".
Nawaz, 50, joined in, chasing the council contractor and hitting him with a mop handle which shattered into several pieces due to the force of the blow.
The 35-year-old victim suffered bruising from the attack but was not seriously injured.
Malik was charged with assault and racially aggravated assault, while a second man, Mohammed Nawaz, was charged with assault and using an offensive weapon.
Malik was given a nine-month prison term suspended for two years and Nawaz was given six months suspended for one year at Wolverhampton Crown Court on May 21.
But Dudley Council chief executive Kevin O’Keefe wrote to the Attorney General last month seeking a review of the sentence for both men.
In the letter, the incident was branded an “unprovoked racially motivated and physical attack.”
The Attorney General has now ordered Malik’s case be sent to the Court of Appeal where it will be reviewed by the three independent High Court Judges to decide if the original sentence was unduly lenient or not. Nawaz’s sentence will remain in place.
Councillor Patrick Harley, leader of Dudley Council, said: "This is good news and sends out a message that we will stand by and do everything we can to ensure that our officers are given as much protection by the law as possible, while they go about their duties.
"We felt that the original sentence was unduly lenient and had to act in the best interests of our staff.
"We will watch with interest and hope that justice will be served in this matter which will have caused a great deal of distress to this council officer."
