Picture: Metropolitan Police

Five men were jailed for a total of 15 years at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Monday after attacking an American student with a bottle of Jagermesiter on Brick Lane in 2013.

On Monday 17 June 2013 a gang of men threw 40 punches and kicks at an American student that left him with post-traumatic stress disorder.

The victim of an attack, Francesco Hounye, 23, had only been in the UK for three days when a bottle was smashed into his face, leaving him permanently scarred. Mr Hounye was attacked because he was not local to the area.

Ringleaders Shelim Uddin, 21, and Samad Udin, 25, pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm. Shelim Uddin, currently serving a 32 month sentence for money laundering, was jailed for six years. Samad Udin was sentenced for 5 and a half years.

Shahdat Hussain, 20, was sentenced to 22 months while Karmul Hussain, 23, was jailed for two years and three months. Both were pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm and jailed in a young offenders institute.

Ben Mott, Detective Constable for Tower Hamlets police, said: “This was a savage, unprovoked and prolonged attack by five men on an innocent visitor to London.

“I hope the sentences handed down by the Judge today go some way to providing Francesco Hounye with a sense of justice and closure and continue to demonstrate that the Metropolitan Police and the CPS are committed to putting perpetrators of violence in front of the courts.”

The victim, Francesco Hounye said: “Prior to this incident I was a confident, ‘happy-go-lucky guy’. Never did I think that something like this would happen to me. As a direct result of this incident, I am now scared to go out on my own, particularly at night, and have become a much quieter and withdrawn person.”

“I now face the rest of my life with the permanent scarring that has been left as a result of this attack as well as the emotional distress it has caused me. These physical scars now act as a permanent reminder of what happened to me on that night.”