Man avoids jail for assault during row over clean-up at Cork barbershop 

The incident happened at Boston Barbers in Blackpool shopping centre in 2022. File picture: Denis Minihane

A barbershop row saw one barber poke another with his finger, strike him with a gear-bag and then hold up an umbrella towards him before he himself was assaulted by the other man with a scissors.

This was the scenario described by Detective Sergeant Kieran O’Sullivan in the case against 45-year-old Ammar Saker who admitted assault causing harm to his workmate at Boston Barbers in Blackpool shopping centre on October 29, 2022.

The incident happened during a row about the clean-up of the premises at around 5.30pm on that date.

There were three members of staff present at the time, one of whom played no part in the incident, and the others were Ammar Saker and the injured party.

“Mr Saker and the injured party were both working together in the Boston Barbers in Blackpool shopping centre at the end of a shift. Both men were cleaning up. While cleaning, a verbal altercation occurred over who was to clean it up. It was just verbal at the beginning.

“Mr Saker turned his back on the injured party and continued cleaning. The injured party poked him in the back with his finger before he struck him on the neck with a gear-bag. The injured party also picked up an umbrella and pointed it at the accused.

At this point Mr Saker had done nothing. But he picked up a scissors which was on the counter and turned around and struck the injured party in the left side of his stomach with the scissors. The injured part struck Mr Saker two more times with the umbrella.

“The scissors fell on the ground and the altercation continued in a verbal manner. A member of security in the shopping centre observed the fight and separated the parties.

“Mr Saker was later arrested. The injured party had his wounds treated at the premises by the security person before the ambulance arrived and took him to hospital.

“Mr Saker was co-operative when interviewed. He could not remember picking up the scissors but accepted the CCTV was correct. The injured party made a full recovery. He does not wish to make a victim impact statement.

Defence barrister Alan O’Dwyer said Mr Saker is an Algerian national, living and working in Ireland for the past 15 years who had not come to the attention of gardaí before or since this incident. He suggested the parties had made up and said the defendant had brought €3,000 compensation to court for the injured party as a gesture of his remorse.

Det. Sgt O’Sullivan said: “The injured party is Iraqi and the defendant is Algerian — there was a cultural issue there.” Mr O’Dwyer said: “It was a spur-of-the-moment thing. He picked up what was near him and swung it at the injured party. It was completely out of character.” 

Sentencing

Judge Helen Boyle imposed a two-year sentence on Mr Saker of Terrenure Road North, Terrenure, Dublin, and suspended it in full.

Judge Boyle said during sentencing: “I note this was a spur-of-the-moment action by you. You did not start the fight. It was started by the victim. Unfortunately, rashly, you grabbed the scissors and turned around and caused this harm. It was not premeditated but an aggravating factor is possession of the weapon.

“In mitigation, you pleaded guilty, you saved the State time and expense of a trial and spared the victim the trauma of coming to court. You co-operated with the garda investigation.” The judge acknowledged that there was no ongoing animosity between the parties.