Pa Salieu sentenced to 33 months in prison for part in mass brawl
Pa Salieu has been sentenced to 33 months in prison for his part in a mass brawl which started after his friend was stabbed to death.
The rapper was found guilty of possessing a bottle as an offensive weapon and a second count of violent disorder after a fight broke out following the stabbing of his friend Fidel Glasgow, grandson of The Specials’ Neville Staple, in 2018.
Warwick Crown Court heard Salieu was caught on CCTV using a tree branch to hit a victim of a gang attack, who then spent 10 days in hospital, reports Sky News.
He also said he had smashed and brandished a bottle to defend himself.
Salieu was previously cleared by a jury in March of engaging in violent disorder in the brawl.
No one has ever been charged with the murder of Mr Glasgow despite extensive inquiries into disorder following a music event at Coventry’s Club M in the early hours of September 1, 2018.
Passing sentence, Judge Peter Cooke told Salieu (via The Mirror): “Anyone harbouring the view that you are a young man being hard done by should pause to reflect that despite having a conviction for carrying a knife three years earlier – which resulted in a suspended sentence – in the course of these events you used two bottles and a stick. It was your intention to turn a bottle into a jagged weapon.”
Salieu and others involved in the violence had acted like a “mob,” the judge said, adding: “The case illustrates the dangers for any young man of acting with a pack mentality and getting involved in mass disorder. If you do that somebody is likely to end up seriously injured or dead. What happened to Fidel could have happened to anyone in that melee.”
The judge accepted that the rapper had “done a good deal more than just behave himself” since the attack four years ago. But the sentence was still passed.
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Damian Jones
NME