A gunman has been jailed for eight years after his victim was left with irreversible injuries after being shot in the leg and groin during an armed late-night fight in a city car park
A gunshot victim had to have a testicle surgically removed after being blasted by a bullet in the groin, a court has heard.
Mohammed Kamal, 25, claimed to have fired the gun in “panic” during a late-night car park fight in Bradford, West Yorks., on April 19 and said he was only armed because he had been attacked a week before the incident.
The shooting left the victim, who was hit in the groin and leg, with irreversible injuries and he had to have right testicle removed as it had been “broken to pieces” and was unrepairable, the Telegraph and Argus reports.
Kamal previously admitted to section 18 wounding and possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence and was this week jailed for eight years.
The gun, said by ballistics experts to be either a 9mm calibre self-loading pistol or a submachine gun, has never been recovered, local media reports.
The court heard that the shooting may have been linked to a drug debt or possible drug-related activity, but the circumstances surrounding the shooting were “masked and hidden in shrouds of criminality”.
The victim was with his brother and nephew at about 10pm on the night of April 19 and would “hang around” in the car park off Oak Lane in Manningham in the city.
He said another group of around 10 to 15 people were also present but that he did not know them. The trio left the car park to go to a shop. When they returned, the victim heard Kamal shout something and saw he had a gun in his hand.
After being shot, he was bundled into a car and rushed to hospital. CTV footage from the scene showed people running “in fear” as the weapon was fired. A spent cartridge with Kamal’s DNA on it was later recovered from the scene by police.
Initially charged with attempted murder, Kamal later pleaded guilty to wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.
Speaking after sentencing, detective inspector Suzanne Hall of West Yorkshire Police said: We welcome the sentence of Kamal today, firearms have no place in society and we take offending of this nature extremely seriously.
“The use of a firearm could have had fatal consequences; the victim is lucky to be alive. Anyone caught using a firearm will be dealt with robustly by the courts.””
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