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London knife attacker leaves court without prison sentence

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Gabriel Abdullah, a 34-year-old man who threatened staff at a kosher supermarket in London’s Golders Green with a knife in January, was given a two-term suspended sentence at Harrow Crown Court, according to media reports earlier this week.

According to GB News, Abdullah was sentenced to 18 months in prison, suspended for two years, and 12 months in prison, suspended for two years.

“Suspension sentences are sentences of imprisonment that do not require the offender to go to prison, provided he does not commit any further crimes and complies with any conditions imposed,” the British Sentencing Council said in a statement.

Abdullah, who shouted anti-Semitic insults and demanded that supermarket employees express their views on the war between Israel and Hamas at knifepoint, was sentenced to a nine-month alcohol treatment program and a 30-day rehab clinic, a statement said. Jewish news.

Footage of a man armed with a knife attempting to attack a kosher shop, Golders Green, London, January 29, 2024 (courtesy)

Gary Mond, chairman of the British National Jewish Assembly, told the JerusalemPost “This verdict, if you can even call it that, will further undermine the already very low faith of the Jewish community in the British justice system. Abdullah should now serve a prison sentence. His actions could easily have had tragic consequences. At the same time, those who prevented a potentially fatal attack should be praised and even honored.”

Hate crime or too much alcohol?

In May, Abdullah pleaded guilty to causing a commotion and possession of a knife. Police had originally planned to charge Abdullah with a hate crime, but the charge was later changed, according to the Jewish Chronicle.

Abdullah’s lawyer had claimed in an earlier trial that he was self-medicating his paranoid schizophrenia with alcohol.

“Mental health issues contributed to this offence,” Matthew Ness told the court. “Mr Abdullah said his mental health issues had never caused him to leave the house with a knife before and he attributed this to very high levels of alcohol consumption.”



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