A TRAINEE solicitor who punched a man on a night out ‘decking’ him and causing a bleed on the brain has been spared an immediate prison sentence.
Naumaan Bhatti was working as a paralegal when he knocked the man backwards into a wall outside McDonald’s in Briggate, Leeds, Bradford Crown Court heard today.
Bhatti, 22, of Cottingley Drive, Bingley, had jeopardised a promising legal career with the single blow delivered in the early hours of September 3 last year, his barrister Chloe Hudson said.
He pleaded guilty to unlawfully wounding the man after an exchange of words.
Prosecutor Caroline Abraham told the court that Bhatti was out with friends and family when the assault took place.
Yorkshire Ambulance Service treated the injured man who had a laceration to the back of his head and swelling to his lip. He was taken to Leeds General Infirmary where a CT scan revealed a bleed on the brain.
He was discharged from hospital two days later but reported sustaining a scar to the back of his head, a bloodshot eye and memory loss. He was now stressed, paranoid and worried about going out.
Chloe Hudson said in mitigation that it was ‘a moment of madness’ in which her client had lost a good deal.
It was an isolated incident by a man of previous good character with an excellent academic record.
“He looks back in horror at what he has done,” Miss Hudson said.
Bhatti had since been moved from his job as a paralegal to an administrative role.
