British rapper, Pa Salieu has been jailed for two years and nine months for taking part in a mob attack on a 23-year-old man shortly after his best friend was stabbed to death.
The 25-year-old admitted violent disorder at a previous hearing, having been caught on CCTV using a tree branch to repeatedly hit the victim, who spent ten days in the hospital.
The BRIT Award-nominated artist was cleared by a jury of a second count of violent disorder relating to a mass brawl in a nearby street minutes earlier, which led to the death of 21-year-old Fidel Glasgow, grandson of The Special’s singer Neville Staple.
Salieu was convicted of possessing a bottle as an offensive weapon after telling jurors he smashed and brandished it to defend himself.
Following his arrest, the court heard, Salieu, from Hillfields, Coventry, told police Mr. Glasgow was his best friend and then exercised his right to silence.
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.’
Passing a sentence of 27 months for violent disorder and a further six months, to be served consecutively, for possession of an offensive weapon, the judge said: ‘I have no difficulty in accepting you are a young man who has already suffered impacts on your career by virtue of these proceedings.
‘But I observe that it is a career that has flourished nonetheless.’
Judge Cooke also said he was taking into account that Salieu was close with Mr Glasgow, and that the star had made ‘laudable’ efforts to assist people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
