A black teenager who stabbed two racist thugs after being chased and subjected to vile abuse has been set free by the Court of Appeal.
Ibrahim Sarjo was hit with a tirade of unprovoked racist and homophobic insults, including the 'N-word', by Anthony Sweeney and Raymond Watkins as he walked with friends in Liverpool city centre at 7.30pm on Friday, June 17 this year.
Sarjo, of Elaine Street in Toxteth, tried to ignore the abuse and walked on with his female friends, but the two thugs chased him, leading to a violent confrontation near Queen Square bus station in which they suffered serious injuries.
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The then 18-year-old later pleaded guilty to two counts of wounding without intent and possession of a knife, and was sentenced to 18 months in a young offenders institution at Liverpool Crown Court on October 14. However, that sentence was suspended at a recent hearing at the Court of Appeal in London.
In a written judgment, Lord Justice Dingemans said: "As the appellant walked past Anthony Sweeney and Raymond Watkins, who had been visiting Liverpool and drinking, Mr Sweeney racially abused the appellant, saying: 'Girls like white boys better than black' and called the appellant [the N-word]. This was properly described by the prosecution before the judge as 'ugly, shameful and highly provocative'."
The courts heard that Sarjo tried to ignore Sweeney and continued to walk past, but Sweeney followed him and called him a "f****t". Sarjo told Sweeney: "Go away, you're a grown man" and pointed out there were other people around.
Watkins initially appeared to try to call Sweeney back from confronting Sarjo, but then also started following the teenager and his friends, in an incident caught on CCTV.
Lord Dingemans wrote: "There was further racial abuse of the appellant. The appellant was chased into the road and Mr Sweeney kicked out at him and there was a physical confrontation which followed. During this, the appellant produced a knife and stabbed both complainants before running off.
"Mr Watkins dropped to the floor and shouted, 'I'll get you [n-word]'. The appellant ran away from the scene, chased by Mr Sweeney who then racially abused the appellant further shouting, "If I catch you, you black b******, I'm going to kill you." Mr Watkins got up from the floor and joined in the chase of the appellant."
Sarjo managed to escape, but was later traced and arrested. Sweeney sustained a stab wound in the chest and lost "a lot of blood". He was treated with staples and was in hospital for seven days before being discharged.
Watkins sustained puncture wounds which were treated with staples, and he remained in hospital for 10 days. They both later told police they had "been to Liverpool for the day", and visited a museum, shopped for clothes and went for food. They said they had "been drinking but were not drunk".
Julian Nutter, defending Sarjo both in the original case and at the Court of Appeal, said Sarjo had taken the knife off a young boy related to his ex-girlfriend earlier that day and intended to hand it in to police, a claim which the Crown Prosecution Service did not dispute.
The court also heard Sarjo had no previous convictions, was in work, was described as "from a good family" and a pre-sentence report from the Probation Service described him as posing a "low risk" to the public.
Even the original sentencing judge, Her Honour Judith Bond, said: "There is no suggestion you would not comply with any order the court makes and it has to be said there is a real prospect of rehabilitation and strong personal mitigation."
However, she concluded: "You have a supportive family and you are in employment, but, sadly, it is unavoidable that a sentence of imprisonment must be imposed. You had a knife with you that day and ultimately you used that knife on two people and a custodial sentence is the appropriate sentence."
The Court of Appeal disagreed with Judge Bond.
Lord Dingemans wrote: "In our judgment, in the exceptional circumstances of this case, the judge was wrong to find that appropriate punishment could only be met by immediate detention."
He set out a number of grounds which persuaded the bench to release Sarjo from custody, including:
- The prosecution accepted Sarjo was carrying a knife having removed it from a younger person, although it was "common ground that this did not amount to a reasonable excuse"
- Sarjo had been subjected to "very serious" racist abuse and had walked away, doing "all that he could" to avoid the incident
- Sarjo had been chased into the street and kicked before he had used the knife, although it was "common ground" between the prosecution and defence that it was "excessive force" for self-defence
- It was also common ground that Sarjo had not intended to cause really serious harm to Watkins or Sweeney
- Sarjo was still only 18, of previous good character, in employment, with a supportive family and "with every prospect of rehabilitation"
The Court of Appeal suspended the 18 month custodial sentence for two years, and ordered Sarjo to complete 30 Rehabilitation Activity Days with the Probation Service, as recommended in the original pre-sentence report.
The judges noted as Sarjo had already spent around two months in custody, there was no need to impose unpaid work or other non-custodial punishments.
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