An assault victim and his cousin have both been sentenced to custody over their part in a violent street attack which left one man with a stab injury.

Hassan Arshad, 20, and his cousin Hamzah Arshad, 22, both pleaded guilty to a charge of violent disorder in relation to the attack which took place in Great Horton in March 2021.

Bradford Crown Court heard how Hassan Arshad had suffered a very serious head injury when he was attacked and on the night of the disturbance they and others had been looking for a man who they believed was linked to the incident.

After failing to find that man the pair, and possibly three others, they targeted a parked up car containing two other men and the cousins used baseball bats to smash the windows and cause extensive damage to the vehicle.

During the violence, an unknown male from the Arshads’ group stabbed the car driver in the back as the two occupants escaped from the vehicle.

The victim said in a statement that he was kept in hospital for a week after the stabbing and he couldn’t walk or sleep properly for six to seven months.

He said he was still in constant pain and struggling to work as a result of the unprovoked attack.

Hamzah Arshad, of Glenview Road, Shipley, was sentenced to 17 months in jail for his role in the violent disorder and his cousin, of Heaton Park Road, Bradford, was given a 16-month custodial sentence in a young offenders institution.

Sentencing the pair, Judge Jonathan Gibson said the car was extensively damaged and the attack must have extremely terrifying for the occupants.

“They tried to get out, but before one of them got out he was stabbed by another man, not one of you, and he received a very serious stab wound,” said the judge.

“It is accepted for the purpose of my sentencing that you did not know that was going to happen in advance and you were no part of any joint enterprise in the use of the knife.”

The court heard that there had been no further offending since the incident in March 2021 and both defendants were now in employment with good prospects of rehabilitation.

But Judge Gibson said the seriousness of the offence, involving smashing car windows with baseball bats and acting in a terrifying way, meant only immediate custodial sentences were appropriate.

The court heard that both defendants had been subject to electronically monitored curfews for over a year and half of that time would count towards the length of sentence they would have to serve in custody.

Barrister Abdul Iqbal, for Hamzah Arshad, said his client had been drawn into an on-going situation involving his cousin who had been attacked and suffered serious injury.

He said they had decided to send a message to show “defiance”, but the cousins had never intended themselves to attack anyone.

Mr Iqbal said both men came from very respectable backgrounds, but he conceded that the offending was inexcusable.

He said the incident had been intended to scare rather than to harm and was fuelled by the sense of grievance over the previous attack on Hassan Arshad and the on-going situation.

Judge Gibson also made a five-year restraining order which bans the cousins from having any contact with the victim of the stabbing.