THREE defenceless women were attacked in broad daylight by a man for not wearing traditional Asian dress as they cowered in a car at a petrol station.

In a 51-second attack that was captured on CCTV Muhammed Hassan grabbed the driver and slammed her head on the dashboard, grabbed another woman’s hair and punched her in the head, and then punched the third woman.

Bradford Crown Court heard it described as “an outrageous public display of misogyny”.

Prosecutor Ayman Khokhar said the three women, who were known to Hassan, had stopped to fill up their car at the Prince of Wales Service Station on Harrogate Road in Bradford en-route to going for dinner on May 25 this year.

Hassan, 26, of All Alone Road, Bradford, pulled up alongside them and was said by one of the women to be “refuelling his car slowly on purpose”.

All three decided to wait until he had left as he had previously objected to their non-traditional dress and make-up, verbally abusing them as “slags” and “prostitutes” and demanding that they dress conservatively.

However, after paying Hassan marched straight to their car to throw punches and push the women aggressively.

He then drove off and the women called the police.

The victims suffered swelling, bruises, red marks, and scratches.

Hassan remained silent during a police interview but later pleaded guilty to affray.

Mr Khokhar said: “In broad daylight he has attacked three females at a petrol station. The offence appears to be motivated by sexist attitudes towards women.”

Mitigating, Fuad Arshad said Hassan’s behaviour on the day was “very much out of character” and that he was “very regretful”.

He said the background to the incident revolved around Hassan’s belief that the three women had “played some role in how a marriage ended” but that Hassan accepted what he did on the day was “unjustified”.

Sentencing Hassan to six months in prison suspended for two years, His Honour Judge Colin Burn said: “Whatever the motivation was for this it’s still utterly inadequate to justify the violence that you perpetrated against [the victims] when they were sitting in a car effectively cowering from you.

“The three people on the receiving end of your violence were women who were in a vulnerable situation.

“[This was] an extremely abusive, controlling, and violent incident.”

He ordered Hassan to undertake 35 rehabilitation activity requirement days “to address the underlying things that led to this otherwise inexplicable violence”, to carry out 180 hours of unpaid work, and to wear an electronic tag to monitor his movements for the next four months.

Hassan was also ordered to pay £500 costs.