City's streets 'have yet again been used as a battleground' says judge

THE life of a father has been "utterly devastated" by a revenge bottle attack to his face in Nottingham city centre.

- By MARTIN NAYLOR

Nottingham Crown Court was told how Abubakarr Haruna jammed the broken bottle "as hard as he could" into the "utterly defenceless" victim's cheek before running away and trying to change his appearance.

In an impact statement, the dad told how he chose to tell his children that the permanent scar he now has from nearly 100 stitches came from "falling over".

And the judge, who sentenced the homeless defendant on what was his 39th birthday, told him how "the streets of Nottingham have yet again been used as a battleground".

Handing him a sentence totalling 10 years and eight months, Judge Stuart Rafferty KC said: "When he was utterly defenceless with his arms by his side you jammed that bottle as hard as you could into the side of his face. His face was left so badly severed that every single layer of his skin was damaged.

"Out on the streets you are dangerous because the reality is that when you are out on the street if anybody crosses you, you are not able to let it lie.