Nottingham – A Sikh shopkeeper from Nottingham is lucky to have avoided serious injury after being attacked by a shoplifter with a bottle of whiskey.
On June 9, 42-year-old Gurpal Singh was sprayed with the alcohol when a shoplifter, Ronald Richardson, clubbed a 19-pound ($29) bottle of Jameson Irish whiskey on Singh’s head after he asked Richardson to pay for the chocolates he lifted from the shop, The Mirror reported on Saturday.
Other customers grappled the shoplifter and he was later handed over to police.
The attack left Gurpal Singh with hearing problems and a bump on the side of the head.
“It was fortunate I had my black turban on as always. It saved me from more damage as the bottle broke. I could have been badly cut without it,” Singh was quoted as saying.
Doctors who treated Gurpal Singh said that the injuries would have been much worse if he hadn’t been wearing his turban.
“It was very odd — he had paid for the whiskey but tried to take a few bars of Dairy Milk worth 7 pounds ($10),” added Singh, who runs the Family Shopper store in The Meadows, Nottingham.
Richardson, 49, appeared in court on Friday and was ordered to pay 200 pounds ($306) as compensation to Gurpal Singh.
Richardson got a 16-week suspended jail term and was ordered to obey a curfew for 12 weeks.
Richardson suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder because of family problems and was an alcoholic, the report said.