A man received a nine-month prison sentence at Belfast Crown Court for four common assaults committed in north Belfast. Judge Gordon Kerr KC imposed the term on Wednesday.

The incidents occurred on April 18, 2022. A mother and her young son stopped their caravan in the north of the city to pick up a female resident. As the son assisted with her bag at the front of her house, Omar Abdolmajeed approached wearing a face mask and hood up.

Abdolmajeed demanded their bags. After refusal, he attempted to strike the son, who shut the garden gate. Abdolmajeed punched the son in the face, causing a cut lip, and threw stones at him.

The mother exited the car to help and Abdolmajeed punched her in the eye and stomach. She sustained a cut to her left eye, forehead swelling, and abdominal pain.

During the struggle, neighbours intervened. Abdolmajeed kicked the female resident in the arm and leg. He punched a male neighbour in the face, causing a nosebleed.

Police arrived to find Abdolmajeed restrained on the ground and arrested him. In interview, he admitted asking for the bags but claimed the others surrounded and blocked him.

Abdolmajeed initially denied the charges, citing self-defence, and was due for trial. He went at large for 17 months until arrest last month and has stayed in custody.

Judge Kerr noted Abdolmajeed's untreated psychotic illness at the time, which affected his behaviour, along with his clear record and guilty pleas. The judge ruled a non-custodial sentence unsuitable for the unprovoked assaults.