Sheffield man’s ferocious attack after release from prison

Ajay Rowding punched him to the ground and continued to hit him for about a minute, wearing gloves with plastic knuckles which marked the man’s face and left a cut behind his ear that needed seven stitches.

Rowding helped him to his feet and tried to clean him up at a local pub, telling staff the man had been jumped, but when they returned to the bail hostel where they both lived, police were called.

The attack happened after a visit to his victim's sister's home on December 16, 2019.

Rowding was angry because he thought she had spread rumours about him on social media, prosecutor Andrea Parnham told Sheffield Crown Court.

He claimed he was acting in self-defence and tried to plead guilty to a lesser offence, but this was rejected.

His victim was left feeling scared to go out and had to be moved to a new hostel in a different county, cutting him off from friends and family.

Rowding was jailed for nine years, in March 2013, after terrorising a Sheffield family and threatening to cut a mother’s unborn baby from her womb in a terrifying hour-long robbery at the family home. He also threw a cup of water at the judge when he was in court.

In all he has 19 convictions for 39 offences, which include a four-year prison sentence for robbery, in November 2006, and a one-year sentence for aggravated assault, in January 2012.

Zaiban Alam, mitigating, said he was released six months prior to the attack.

"It is desperately sad that he finds himself here," she said. "He doesn't seek to make excuses for his conduct.”

She said Rowding was "in fear" at the time, after witnessing "extreme violence" earlier in his life.

“He is desperate to come out and start his life again,” Ms Alam said, adding that he gained a first class degree with the Open University while in prison and has won a place to study for a masters degree at Sheffield Hallam University.

"This is not an eleventh hour plea. He was willing to plead guilty to something.”

She said that even when his victim fell ill and the crown was left without a witness, Rowding refused to “cynically take advantage of that.”

Although the injuries he caused were “gruesome” to look at, they were largely cosmetic, Ms Alam told the court.

Rowding, 30, of Norfolk Park Road, pleaded guilty to wounding with intent.

On Thursday, December 31, Recorder Ian Harris told him it was a "cruel and vindictive" attack and using gloves with a hard spine was effectively using a weapon.

He said the offence was aggravated by his previous convictions and by the breach of his licence.

Rowding received a two year sentence which will start from today.

Although he has already served close to one year, that time will not count against the new sentence as he was recalled to prison following his arrest.

Read the latest cases from Sheffield Crown Court here.

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