'He went absolutely crazy and threatened to kill me': Cheadle racist assault victim speaks out

The victim of a racist assault has told how he was chased down the street by a former soldier with two umbrellas who was threatening to kill him.

Teacher Shabir Makim, 40, said he felt very alone during the attack.

"Nobody from the public was intervening," he said. "No one was trying to take him out or stop him or hold him back."

He added: "What was going through my mind was not a sense of fear, I wasn't scared at all, but a sense of being alone, very, very alone."

His attacker Robert Browne, 56, who admitted racially/religiously aggravated common assault/beating, was given 15 weeks in jail, suspended for 18 months at Tameside Magistrates Court.

Granada Reports journalist Tim Scott was in court:

Speaking outside of court following the sentencing, on Thursday 8 December, Mr Makim said: "I think [the sentence] is completely unjustified, he has basically been let out free and he can go and do it again if he wants.

"I don't feel justice has been done - for what I went through - it's unacceptable."

The court heard Browne, of Buxton, had been attending the funeral of a soldier friend and had been drinking and "the red mist came down".

He apologised in court and said his behaviour was "unacceptable".

Sentencing Browne, Magistrate Catherine Meek told him he was "lucky not to be jailed" and his behaviour was "horrifying to watch".

She added that Mr Makim had been subject to a 'prolonged and persistent' assault by Browne, who had used umbrellas as 'weapons' and caused 'distress'.

"The offence was committed under the influence of alcohol and there was gratuitous degradation of the victim," Catherine Meek said. "This offence is so serious that it has passed the custody threshold.

"You are very, very lucky you are not going into custody," she said. "It was quite horrifying to watch."

The incident began when Mr Makim started recording a dispute between Browne, another man and a homeless man outside a supermarket, on his phone.

Apparently angered by the filming, Browne racially abused Mr Makim, thrust his umbrellas at him and then chased him down the street.

"He got very angry and thrust his umbrellas towards my eyes," the dad said. "They weren't small umbrellas, big umbrellas, I think one or two of them had metal ends to them.

"The strength he used to thrust forward would gone to the back of my brain had it gone through my eyes."

Mr Makim, who suffered bumps to the side of his head, says he had concussion and went to hospital that night for CT scans.

He says it is "sickening and worrying" that this kind of incident can happen.

"I'm not frightened for myself. But it could be my mother. It could be an elderly person. It could be someone who is more vulnerable."

Mr Makim shared the video with friends and family in a WhatsApp group, before one of them posted it on social media, getting 1.5m views on Twitter.

Prosecuting, Mr Gee Leung said Mr Makim was leaving Tesco Express in Cheadle village when he noticed Browne 'shouting' at a homeless man.

The court heard the interaction became aggressive after the homeless man told Browne and his friends he had served in Iraq, with Browne replying: "You didn't serve in Iraq you lying c**t, we did."

Mr Makim started to record the incident 'for his safety' after a couple who had also just emerged from Tesco began to intervene.

The footage, which was played in court in full, shows the moment Browne noticed the victim filming, and turned to him, telling him: "Put your phone away otherwise I'll f***ing leather you."

Browne then picked up two 'large' umbrellas, one of which had a metal end, and began to 'charge' towards the complainant, the court heard.

The footage captures Browne telling the victim 'you're a p*ki b*****d', to which he replies, 'you're a racist son of a b***h'. Mr Leung then described how the complainant was 'struck to the head' with the umbrellas.

Mr Makim then told Browne he was recording him on a Facebook Live, to which Browne replied: "If you put that on Facebook, I'll kill you."

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