Eight years in jail for attack on Cannock shopkeeper
A shopkeeper was brutally attacked by a gang of three men caught trying to steal beer from his Cannock store, a court heard.
Sazid Saiyad was repeatedly punched and kicked.
He was left with a fractured eye socket and a serious eye injury. One of his attackers, Matthew Mold, of Bowes Drive, Cannock, was jailed for eight years and two months. However, Mr Saiyad has been so badly affected he was unable to give evidence in a trial against two of the alleged attackers and the prosecution had to drop charges against them.
Mr Saiyad has been left with a severe mental illness as a result of his trauma, Stafford Crown Court was told.
Mold, aged 26, admitted a charge of causing grievous bodily harm with intent.
Judge Mark Eades told him: "Mr Saiyad was a shopkeeper providing a public service.
"You regarded it as a place where you could get drink for nothing when you were drunk.
"This was a gang attack of three on to one. But the matter doesn't end there. Mr Saiyad is now severely psychiatrically ill, so much so he couldn't give evidence in the trial of your two co-accused.
I appreciate you neither wanted nor foresaw the illness, but it's a fact of life you bear the responsibility."
Mr Nick Tatlow, prosecuting, said the assault on Mr Saiyad happened on June 4, 2010, at his Anchor Stores in Bevan Lee Road in Cannock.
Mold maintained he had not kicked the victim, but bloodstains on his shoes proved he had.
Police arrested him shortly after the assault in Stafford Road.
He was drunk, his clothes covered in his own blood and he was wearing only one shoe.
Mr David Iles, defending, said his client had no memory of what happened.
"My client pleaded guilty on the one occasion this was listed for trial.
"The complainant attended in a wheelchair and was plainly too unwell to give evidence.
"To his credit, knowing this, he still pleaded guilty," he said.
