Hamman Forjani received a short 21-month sentence for brutally attacking a pregnant woman, kicking her so hard he left shoe imprints on her face.
Manchester Crown Court heard that after Forjani, cousin of Manchester Arena terror attacker Salman Abedi, had kicked and beat his victim, he said that he wanted her unborn baby to die, reports the Manchester Evening News.
The court heard that on the day of the attack, the 21-year-old had been drinking and became angry after the victim had broken his mobile phone and threw water at him.
Forjani then knocked the pregnant woman to the floor and dragged her along the ground before he began to punch her head and body, kicking her so hard in the head he left his shoe print on her face.
When the attack was over, the expectant mother, who was 28 weeks pregnant at the time, told him he “could have killed her unborn baby”, prosecutor Michael Knowles said.
Forjani replied that “he wanted to”.
A resident of Fallowfield, Manchester, which has a 20 per cent Muslim population, Forjani had previous convictions for robbery, burglary, and theft.
His defence described him as “very pleasant” when he is not drunk or on drugs.
The woman gave birth prematurely and the court heard there was a “concern” that the attack brought on the early delivery, but the judge said there was no evidence to prove this.
Despite being premature, the child was born healthy.
Forjani’s defence lawyer Rachel White said that he was finding his time on remand in prison “particularly difficult” as he was being “bullied because of a family association”.
Ms. White said that her client, who was not arrested as part of the investigation into the Manchester terror attack, had considered asking to move to another prison, but did not want to be far away from his family.
During the trial, the court heard that Forjani was the cousin of fellow Fallowfield resident Salman Abedi, the Libyan-heritage jihadist who detonated a suicide vest at an Ariana Grande concert at Manchester Arena on May 22nd, 2017, killing 22 people and injuring more than 500. The attack was later claimed by the Islamic State.
Abedi, who was the son of Libyan refugees, had targetted the American pop star’s concert to inflict maximum damage on families, young women, and children. Of the 22 fatalities, ten were under the age of 20, the youngest victim being an eight-year-old girl.
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