A man has been jailed for punching a Muslim nurse wearing the hijab after he tried to strangle her with the headscarf on her way to seeing a patient.
The 29-year-old nurse was attacked in an alleyway near her home in Stoke-on-Trent last August.
Jake Hammersley, 25, pleaded guilty to causing racially aggravated fear or provocation of violence, religiously aggravated common assault and assault by beating.
The attack resulted in the nurse suffering a two-inch cut to her nose and a large bruise on her neck.
Stoke Sentinel reported that Judge Paul Glenn said: “You took the headscarf and pulled it around her neck and when she defended herself you punched her in the face.
”She ran to her brother’s house – she was upset, crying, and shaken up.
“I have also watched some footage and one wouldn’t like to be a police officer dealing with the likes of you.
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“She’s a nurse and a carer and was on her way out to care for a lady.”
Prosecutor Caroline Harris stated that four men were involved in the attack.
The victim told the men that she would call her son when they started verbally abusing her, but one of the perpetrators snatched her phone and put it on a car.
Hammersley then ripped her hijab off and tied it around her neck before punching her.
As she screamed for help, three of the men ran away.
When her nephew came out she ran into her brother’s house.
Hammersley’s lawyer, Robert Smith, said that his client had been leading a “chaotic lifestyle” and was “relying on the goodwill” of friends and family for money, food and accommodation.
He said he had been living with his partner and had a full-time job since March but has 29 previous convictions.
Hammersley was sentenced to 40 weeks in jail.
