Life sentence for inmate who sliced prisoner’s face

An inmate already behind bars for an acid attack has now been jailed for life for slashing a fellow prisoner’s face w​hile being “protected” by guards.

Rahad Hussain was said by a judge to have “intended, planned and enabled” the vi​cious assault on Ali Choudhury at HMP Swaleside on the Isle of Sheppey.

Mr Choudhury was serving life for murder at the time and, having ​secluded himself​ following a number of threats, the jail had put a number of protective ​measures in place.

​These included officers escorting him to the showers and locking him inside a cubicle, Maidstone Crown Court heard.

But ​prior to his shower on December 13, 2020, Hussain​ spent at least 10 minutes coaxing his victim ​into leav​ing his ​cell, reassuring him he was not a threat, only to immediately set about him with an improvised knife when he emerged into the corridor.

The attack, which occurred just a few feet away from a guard and in full view of CCTV cameras, continued until an officer intervened.

Hussain, who had been jailed for 10 years after throwing concentrated sulphuric acid at the faces of two men as they sat in a car in 2017, had made previous efforts to get to the inmate by lying to staff that they were related.

He also told a guard he had been trying to get inside his victim’s cell for about a month pretending to be his friend, and later claimed -although since retracted – that it was his best pal who had been murdered by Mr Choudhury and the convicted killer had been gloating about it.

​The court heard this week that Mr Choudhury ​suffered ​four slash wounds to his cheek, nose and scalp.

In a victim impact statement he spoke of the trauma of what ​had happened, his sleep being affected, ​and of feeling scared and anxious.

He also ​said the large scar ​left on his​ face was a constant reminder every time he look​ed in the mirror​, adding that people “looked differently” at him and seemed “more wary”.

​Despite admitting responsibility, it was not until July 2022, however, that Hussain, from Bethnal Green, east London, was charged with wounding with intent and unauthorised possession in prison of an offensive weapon​.

Having initially denied the offences, he then pleaded guilty in June 2023, with sentencing adjourned for psychiatric reports.

​Aside from the acid attack, for which he had been handed an extended determinate sentence (EDS) for public protection consisting of 10 years’ custody and four additional years on licence, the 31-year-old has previous convictions for violent disorder, possessing drugs with intent to supply, possessing an offensive weapon and having a bladed article.

It was also said that while in prison Hussain had continued to abuse drugs, be “disruptive” and refuse treatment, support and medication for his mental health issues.

Appearing for sentencing on Monday (June 30), Hussain was told by Judge Oliver Saxby KC that a life sentence with a minimum term of six years and eight months was required due to the danger he posed – one that would “carry on long into the future”.

“This was a vicious attack with a weapon, two-and-a-half years into a lengthy EDS, which you formed an intention to commit, then planned to commit and then enabled yourself to commit – all of this in spite of all the protective factors in place,” he told the defendant.

“These include the very fact you were in prison and serving a sentence, the treatment you were being offered, the steps taken by the prison to try and ensure Mr Choudhury’s safety, the presence of an officer within feet of Mr Choudhury, the fact the area where you carried out the assault was covered by CCTV and the jeopardy attacking him would place you in.”

Referring to the fact Hussain had himself told a probation officer he would be locked up for life, Judge Saxby continued: “This must have crossed your mind in the days before you attacked Mr Choudhury, when you were trying to persuade him to leave his cell.

“But not even this factor stopped you from carrying the attack out. Moreover, had you not been stopped, the attack would have continued and the consequences even more serious.”

In highlighting the defendant’s propensity towards “brazen and very serious violence” while acknowledging his low IQ, traumatic childhood and mixed personality disorder, the judge rejected a connection between his ADHD and autism with the attack on Mr Choudhury.

“I am not able to find that these materially reduce your culpability,” Judge Saxby told Hussain. “These offences and your offences in 2017 do not involve impulsive acts on the spur of the moment but instead the forming of an intention to cause really serious harm and planning to achieve that aim.”

Had the offences not been committed, Hussain would have been eligible to apply for parole in 2024 and subject to automatic release in July 2027 once the 10-year jail term of the EDS had expired.

The life sentence imposed this week means however that the earliest Hussain can now apply for parole is in November 3030.