2011: NETHERTON MAN JAILED FOR ATTACKING 85 YEAR-OLD PENSIONER
A man from Netherton who assaulted an elderly woman, pushing her into a shop doorway and causing her to sustain a broken nose and a fractured wrist, has been sentenced to eight months in jail.Mustafa Shafi, residing on Swan Street, attacked 84-year-old Sarah Capewell after she commented to a friend about his destructive actions involving smashing a telephone receiver against the glass of a kiosk on Cinder Bank.
Following the incident, Miss Capewell was subjected to a harsh barrage of insults from the 32-year-old before he charged at her, knocking her into a shop entrance.
During the assault, she also sustained a head injury with a gash and two black eyes.
Judge Rosalind Bush told Shafi, “There is no psychiatric explanation for your conduct, which was disgraceful.
Your attack was unprovoked on a very elderly, vulnerable woman.” She added, “She was a complete stranger and not even engaging with you.
It’s within people's rights to make comments on the street — regardless of your personal views.” Addressing him in Wolverhampton Crown Court, the judge said, “You lost your temper without any justification, claiming later that you had been provoked.” Shafi admitted to wounding the pensioner, explaining to police after his arrest that his reaction stemmed from feeling she had ‘invaded his space’.
In a victim impact statement, Miss Capewell described how the assault has altered her life: “Mentally, I am coping as best as I can, but I rarely go out alone now, unlike before when I would visit the shops alone.
I feel anxious passing groups of young men, and I have lost confidence in myself.
Nonetheless, I am determined to move past this, but physically, I am changed and I will never be the same.” The court was informed that after attacking Miss Capewell, Shafi fled the scene when a nearby barber came to her aid, but he was later detained by police three weeks afterward.
