Families at rival kebab shops fought in street with weapons

TWO families who owned rival kebab shops came to blows in the street after arming themselves with metal poles and sticks which they used to hit each other with.

- PHILIP DEWEY

The brawl, which took place in front of stunned onlookers, left a number of the participants with slash and gash wounds.

Firat Sayak, 45, Yagmur Sayak, 43, Savas Sayak, 34, Mehmet Aksoy, 52, Mazhar Aksoy, 40, Murat Aksoy, 28, Burak Aksoy, 25, and a 17-year-old who can’t be named became involved in a street fight in Newport city centre on August 1. The disorder was caught on CCTV and phone footage quickly went viral which showed the participants viciously hitting each other with a variety of weapons.

A sentencing hearing at Newport Crown Court heard violence broke out after an initial confrontation between Mehmet Aksoy and Firat Sayak outside the Atalya Kebab shop in Commercial Street.

The Aksoy family, who ran the Family Kebab shop, and Sayak, who ran the Atalya Kebab shop, got into a dispute after the first incident between Mehmet and Firat, after the Sayak family in Turkey asked Mehmet Aksoy to act as a mediator. Mehmet was said to have offended Firat after offering him advice about “keeping the peace”.

Prosecutor Alex Orndal said Mehmet and Firat were initially talking but Firat bent down to the ground before grabbing Mehmet by his shirt while picking something up from the ground.

Firat then struck Mehmet twice to his head before holding each other at arm’s length by their clothing. Firat struck him a third time with an item which appeared to smash.

They scuffled near a car before they went to the ground and grappled for some time before people intervened and split them up.

Firat then returned to the kebab shop, while Aksoy remained outside and was seen to use his phone. Mr Orndal said he used the phone to “summon” members of the Aksoy family to attend the scene.

At 3.18pm, Firat was joined by Savas Sayak, who gesticulated with his hands in the street, before returning to the shop.