Hamza Lyzai and Leon Elcock imprisoned for attack on Ekram Haque, who fell and later died from head injuries
The son of a pensioner killed by a teenage "happy-slapping" gang as he walked home from a south London mosque condemned the sentences given to the defendants at the Old Bailey today as "a disgrace".
Ekram Haque, a retired care worker, was attacked by 15-year-old Hamza Lyzai and 16-year-old Leon Elcock as he returned from Ramadan prayers with his granddaughter at Idara-e-Jafferiya mosque in Tooting last August.
Elcock was sentenced to four and a half years and Lyzai three and a half years by judge Martin Stephens. However they will be released on licence after serving half their sentences, minus the time they have already spent in custody.
Haque's son Arfan, 35, said outside court: "I thought justice has not been served today. I have been really let down. The CPS really need to buck up their ideas because people are getting away with murder. My father died. It's a disgrace".
Judge Stephens lifted restrictions on naming the pair to warn others "who may be tempted to indulge in such appalling behaviour".
But he admitted that his powers of sentence in relation to the assaults were "very limited" because of the defendants' ages.
Haque, 67, was clubbed from behind by the pair as his three-year-old granddaughter Marian watched. He fell and cracked his head on the ground, suffering irreparable brain damage, and died a week later. The attack was captured on CCTV.
Elcock and Lyzai, both from Tooting, pleaded guilty to manslaughter. Though mobile phone footage of Haque's death was not recovered by police, it was the culmination of a series of assaults which were filmed on phones.
The Guardian
