Wolverhampton landlords sent to jail after man beaten up
Two city centre landlords and a barman have been jailed after a man was beaten up at one of their pubs. Marc Bohan was hit on the legs with a mop handle in the attack at the Plough and Harrow in Worcester Street, Wolverhampton.
Two city centre landlords and a barman have been jailed after a man was beaten up at one of their pubs. Marc Bohan was hit on the legs with a mop handle in the attack at the Plough and Harrow in Worcester Street, Wolverhampton.
He was also slapped and kicked by the pub's licensee Sukhwinder Shihmar, aged 39, and 37-year-old Naresh Mahey, who worked at the Wheatsheaf in nearby Worcester Street, prosecutor Mr Mohammad Hafeez told the city's crown court.
Jaswant Mehta, aged 53, who ran the Wheatsheaf, repeatedly struck Mr Bohan with the mop when trouble flared after the victim walked into the Plough and Harrow around midnight on July 11 last year, the court was told.
Mr Bohan allegedly owed Mehta £1,600 in unpaid rent after staying at the Wheatsheaf and that debt sparked the drink-fuelled violence during which the victim received "gruesome" bruising, said Mr Hafeez.
The three attackers had each denied the assault but were convicted by a jury after a trial earlier this year. They had been remanded on bail for the preparation of reports before being sentenced yesterday.
Mr Harbinder Lally, defending Shihmar, who lives with his family at the Plough and Harrow and has been a publican for 17 years, said: "He knows he should not have got involved and should just have walked away. The other two men were not close friends, merely associates.
"He has seven employees, a family and £20,000 worth of debts and loans. Imprisonment will have a drastic impact not just on him but on others."
Miss Michelle Heeley for Mehta of Roper Way, Sedgley, whose only previous conviction was for motoring matters, blamed drink for his involvement in the attack. She added: "He was owed money by the complainant but had not sought him out. "
Mr Jasvir Mann, for Mahey, who lived and worked at the Wheatsheaf, said that the defendant had been blighted by a drink problem that was now being overcome.
Mehta was jailed for 15 months while Shihmar and Mahey were sent to prison for 11 months and seven months respectively.
