An ‘uncontrollable’ Bolton man who swung a baseball bat at another man in front of children while he was on bail has been sent to prison, after a judge told him he had reached the ‘end of the road’.
Bilal Kiani, of Columbia Road, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for affray, possessing an offensive weapon in a public place, for breach of a suspended sentence order, and breaking his bail conditions.
At police interview, Kiani laughed as he watched footage of the incident, where children can be heard screaming, and told police that it was not him in the video.
He instead insisted it was ‘my twin brother, my imaginary friend, no comment’, before continuing to say that it was not him, prosecutor Bernice Campbell told the court.
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The 23-year-old has five previous convictions for eight offences, including resisting a constable, failing to surrender to custody, assaulting three emergency workers, and an incident of racially aggravated grievous bodily harm where he repeatedly punched a taxi driver.
On April 5, 2022, Kiani swung a baseball bat towards Karl Waterworth while on Shrewsbury Road.
Waterworth, who brandished a 3ft long piece of wood, fought with Kiani, who brandished a baseball bat, after Waterworth parked in the middle of the road to collect his son.
As the car was parked, Kiani’s sister took a photograph and started filming the car, the court was told.
An argument ensued, with Waterworth, his ex-partner, and new partner alleged to have shouted racially abusive language towards Kiani’s sister.
Bilal Kiani then came out of the house carrying a baseball bat, swinging it towards Waterworth.
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Waterworth then drove off, but Kiani rushed towards his ex-partner and her partner with the baseball bat, before they ran into their house and closed the door before hearing ‘loud bangs’ on the door, the court was told – leading to her temporarily moving to her partner’s home.
Waterworth was previously sentenced in January to a community order for 12 months with 160 hours of unpaid work, for his role in the incident.
The incident occurred amid a background of accusations towards one of Waterworth’s family members, who was accused of making racist remarks towards one of Kiani’s family members, with police being contacted, the court was told.
The court heard how Kiani had been previously sentenced to a suspended sentence of 18 months in prison for the racially aggravated grievous bodily harm in May of last year, with the requirement that he carry out 250 hours of unpaid work hours.
However, Kiani had only carried out 17 hours, having been sent home from the work activity after becoming threatening towards his probation officer – a breach of his community order.
Mitigating, Paul Treble told the court that the affray ‘was committed against a background of racial abuse’ against Kiani’s family, and that Kiani had gone towards Waterworth ‘to meet fire with fire’.
He added that Kiani was only ‘waving’ the bat and was ‘not moving towards anyone’.
Mr Treble also pointed out the defendant’s previous guilty plea.
However, Judge Martin Walsh told Mr Treble that Kiani’s record and breach of his community order ‘paints a picture of a man who’s uncontrollable’.
Mr Treble continued that Kiani had experienced difficulties after being diagnosed with ADHD as a child, and added that Kiani’s age could have contributed to the incident.
Judge Walsh responded: “He’s 23, he’s not a youngster”, with Treble countering: ‘maturity doesn’t always come at 18’, adding ‘perhaps at 25, he’ll be more mature’, before asking Judge Walsh to consider the possibility of managing Kiani in the community.
Summarising, Judge Walsh said that Kiani had caused ‘significant distress’ to those who had witnessed his behaviour, and had only pleaded guilty on the scheduled day of a trial.
He added that the pre-sentence report showed a ‘number of incidents’ where police had been called to Kiani’s family home due to alleged aggressive behaviour towards his family, as well as reports of Kiani spending time at a local hotel to use alcohol and drugs.
Judge Walsh said Kiani, who committed the offence while on bail, had ‘now reached the end of the road’ and that he was ‘satisfied that only an immediate custodial sentence’ would be appropriate, given Kiani’s record of two suspended sentences for his assault on three emergency workers and the racially aggravated grievous bodily harm.
Kiani was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment, to be served immediately. He will serve half before being released on licence, with previous community elements being revoked.
If you have a story, I cover the whole borough of Bolton. Please get in touch at jack.fifield@newsquest.co.uk.
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