A brave Scots shopkeeper who lost a tooth and was left with a swollen eye socket after attempting to capture a teenage thug who launched a brutal attack in her store has spoken out about her ordeal.
Nabila Mughal was repeatedly hit in the face by the masked 17-year-old as she blocked his path and tried to lock him inside Raza Stores in Bathgate, moments after he tried to get behind the counter in June, 2021.
Her left eye was so badly damaged during the attack that it still causes her pain, and she was also left with a burst mouth after her tooth was knocked out.
The 49-year-old says she is traumatised by the violent attack and seven months on still 'shivers' when a stranger wearing a face mask enters her store.
The young culprit, who cannot be named for legal reasons, previously admitted the assault and appeared for sentence at Livingston Sheriff Court on Wednesday where he was given a structured deferred sentence by a sheriff.
Selflessly, Mrs Mughal said she hopes the young man can “get the help he needs” and pleaded with him not to “ruin his life and other people’s lives” by doing anything like this again.
Nabila, who has run the Livery Street store with her husband Zulfiqar for over 20 years, told the Daily Record: “It was the most terrifying experience of my life. It was the first time something like this has ever happened to me.
"Afterwards, I suffered so much trauma that I couldn't leave the house for a whole month.
“When did come back to the shop I would shiver any time a customer came in wearing a mask."
Recalling the attack, Nabila said: “I was suspicious as soon as he entered the shop. He tried to come in through the counter door but I had locked it. I told him to stay on the other side of the counter.
"He then went went straight over to the alcohol and picked up a bottle. I just knew something was not right.
“I quickly tried to call my husband to tell him something was wrong and by that point the man was trying to grab things and run away.
“I tried to stop him by blocking the door but he didn't listen and began pushing me. The he started to punch me in the eye.
“When I didn't let him go him go he punched me again on the mouth.
“Then he hit me on the face with a glass bottle. At that point, I fell on the counter and he ran.
“When my husband arrived I was on the step outside the shop. He was scared when he saw my mouth was bleeding. He actually saw the attacker leaving, but it was a woman who was walking outside who called 999.”
CCTV of the shocking incident was played at Livingston Sheriff Court and showed the teenage thug immediately turning violent and physically hitting Mrs Mughal on her face.
Prosecutor Ross Carvel told the court that after repeated punches on her head he caught her with a final “haymaker” swing, knocking her backwards off her feet behind the counter.
Nabila's attacker was caught within a few hours after police attended at a house in Livingston, West Lothian, on another matter.
They found the accused and his friends heavily under the influence of drink and drugs, and realised he matched the description of the suspect in the shop attack.
The youth, who will lose his anonymity when he turns 18 in two weeks, appeared for sentence on Wednesday after earlier pleading guilty to assault and attempting to pervert the course of justice.
His not guilty pleas to charges of stealing alcohol from the shop, resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer were accepted by the Crown.
Defence lawyer Sinead Corrigan told the court her client remembered nothing of the assault and was “simply shocked and disgusted” he could have acted in the way he did.
She said: “He tried to leave the shop and faced with a lady who was fighting back he retaliated in the heat of the moment.
“Unfortunately for him, that’s how he has come to be in his childhood and adolescence and how he deals with situations.”
She revealed that as the son of a prisoner father and a drug addicted mother with psychiatric problems he had spent most of his life in care.
He has been remanded in a secure unit for the past seven months.
She added that specialist workers had been providing the accused with intensive support since his remand and had secured a placement for him at the Mungo Foundation’s DePaul House in Glasgow.
Sheriff Douglas Kinloch ordered the accused to be electronically tagged under an 8pm-7am home curfew and imposed a structured deferred sentence placing him under close supervision for up to three months.
He said it was important for the court to understand how the accused’s unsettled life and family problems had affected the way he had been behaving.
But the sheriff added: “I also have to think about protecting the public because you have offended in a very concerning way in your young life.
“Your case is a very anxious one in view of the seriousness of the charge and your potential for further offending and further violence.
“I want to see whether you go back to your old ways, which I hope won’t be the case, or whether you’ll take advantage of all the professional support being offered to you and start to lead a useful and law-abiding life.”
He ordered the accused to return to court for a review of his situation on 4 February, adding: “I have to leave you with this warning – you could still end up with a prison sentence.”
