Man faces possible jail sentence for headbutting Muslim doctor in the street

The Nottingham Post reports on the trial of a man on charges of racially aggravated assault by beating after he headbutted a Muslim doctor in the street.

Nottingham Magistrates Court heard that Dr Syeda Jafri, was assaulted and told to “Go back to your country” by Aiden Fletcher, 23, on the evening of October 29, 2015.

Dr Jafri, who works in the intensive care unit at Queen’s Medical Centre had received information earlier that evening concerning the death of the mother of a friend. She and a group of women were intent on visiting their grieving friend when the incident happened.

Fletcher was said to have pushed past Dr Jafri and friends, saying “move out of my way”.

Dr Jafri observed that there was “plenty of space” on the pavement but Fletcher turned to the group of women repeatedly shouting “what did you say?”

Dr Jafri reached for her phone when Fletcher headbutted her and told her to “Go back to your country”.

The court heard that Dr Jafri suffered “a concussion-related headache and had a series of counselling sessions due to the trauma caused by the incident”.

Fletcher admitted a charge of racially aggravated assault by beating. He denied that he “spat on the pavement near the group of women”.

Magistrate Richard Walker told Fletcher, “We will ask the probation service to prepare a report about you and this incident on an all-options basis – including the possibility of custody – to help the next bench in coming to a decision on how best to deal with this. You need to engage with them and help them to do that.”

Dr Jafri, speaking to the local paper about her ordeal said: “When you are on the other end of this, it makes you feel there is a complete failure in society to have a random person act like this.

“It makes you feel worthless and makes you completely lose faith in humanity.”

Fletcher was granted unconditional bail and was ordered to return to court to be sentenced on March 15.