A man accused of armed robbing a Bradford convenience store has been sentenced to more than three years in a young offenders institution. The man was one of the three armed men who raided the convenience store in Bradford leaving its shop worker shocked and fearing for his life.
The shocking incident happened in Eko Polski premises on Legrams Lane. Bradford Crown Court heard how the three masked men walked into the shop at around 5.15pm on Feb 4 and demanded money from the lone shop assistant.
Prosecutor Jessica Lister told the court the first male had a large knife, another was armed with a pick-axe handle and 18-year-old Tokara Ali was carrying a hammer. The knifeman pointed his weapon towards the assistant and he tried to defend himself by grabbing a wooden pole.
Lister said, “He came from behind the till and the male with the knife waved it repeatedly at him. He used the pole to keep the attackers at bay. The defendant lunged towards the complainant and hit him repeatedly on the head with a hammer.”
The CCTV footage showed the knifeman climbing onto the counter and grabbing items from behind the till while the shop worker became involved in a scuffle with the teenager. During that scuffle the third intruder also hit the complainant from behind.
Two of the robbers fled the scene, but the shop assistant managed to hold onto Ali. Miss Lister said the shop assistant shouted and screamed for help and two neighbours came to his aid and helped him to detain Ali until police officers arrived to arrest him.
The court heard that the shop worker suffered numerous injuries including cuts to the top of his head. He underwent an MRI scan in hospital, but no internal injuries were found.
Lister said the victim declined to make a personal statement, but in a previous statement he said he had been very scared especially when the knife was produced.
She said: “He thought he was going to die and believed that if he hadn’t screamed, and the neighbours come to his aid, he would have been killed."
The court heard that at the time of the robbery Ali was still subject to a 12-month community order imposed in October last year for taking a knife into a Bradford nightclub. Ali, now 19, of Woodcross Court, Bradford, pleaded guilty to charges of robbery, unlawful wounding and possessing an offensive weapon and on Friday he was sentenced to 44 months in a young offenders institution.
Ali was initially remanded in custody following his arrest in February, but after suffering “a mental breakdown” he had been transferred to Lynfield Mount hospital. But Recorder Mark McKone KC said Ali was not found to be suffering from a mental illness and a hospital order was not recommended. The judge accepted that Ali had suffered a disrupted upbringing spending time in different countries and he had been assessed as an immature 19-year-old. He said Ali and the shop worker were both very fortunate that the injuries were not a lot more serious.
Recorder McKone said, “He said he was scared and thought he was going to die. For robbery this is a high culpability case because of the use of a weapon to inflict violence.”
The judge told Ali that he had imposed the lowest possible sentence having regard to his personal mitigation, but he warned him that if he committed another offence of robbery or serious violence he could expect a very long custodial sentence indeed.
