A racist thug who hit a man over the head with a carrier bag full of bottles has been spared jail.
Anthony Kaigg shouted abuse at Aziz Iden as they passed in the street. But when Mr Iden questioned his behaviour, Kaigg responded by hitting him round the head with the bag.
Mr Iden was taken to hospital and had to have the five-centimetre gash st
apled.
Tony Hawks, prosecuting at Newcastle Crown Court said: "Aziz Iden was going home from Sunderland city centre and was walking down Roker Avenue. The defendant then shouted racist abuse.
"Another male pushed Mr Iden. Mr Iden asked why he was being assaulted.
"The defendant was swinging a carrier bag, which contained a bottle of alcohol.
"He swung it and it hit Mr Iden on the top of the head. The glass smashed and the victim realised he had been cut.
"The defendant concluded the incident by telling Mr Iden to go back to his own country."
In a statement read out to the court, Mr Iden said he was scared and had moved out of the area as a result of the attack, which also made him anxious and depressed.
At a previous hearing, Kaigg, 26, of The Oaks West, Sunderland, had pleaded guilty to a charge of racially aggravated assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
Andrew Finley, defending, said that since the attack, Kaigg was diagnosed with mental health problems and had not been in trouble since starting his medication.
He said: "There is a pre-sentence report and a very thorough psychiatric report.
"In the passage of time since this offence, he has not committed any further offences. He has been out of trouble for that considerable period of time."
Recorder David Hatton QC handed Kaigg a 40-week sentence, suspended for two years with supervision.
He was also given a 10-week suspended sentence for breaching his suspended sentence and a further two weeks for breaching his bail – both to run consecutively.
