Leeds man who destroyed copies of the Quran sacks legal representative during bizarre hearing
A Leeds man who ripped up copies of the Quran and put them down the toilet sacked his legal representative and berated court staff during a rant at his sentencing hearing.
Ibrahim Iqbal, 36, of no fixed abode, was due to be sentenced at Leeds Magistrates’ Court today (Monday) for the destruction of the copies of the Quran in a prayer room at St James’s Hospital and also for writing ‘Kill Jews’ in crayon on his prison cell wall.
He was found guilty of two counts of religiously aggravated criminal damage and one count of criminal damage at a trial on February 4. He was also due to be sentenced for a separate case of assaulting an emergency worker, for which he was found guilty on January 12.
At today’s hearing it was heard that Iqbal had refused to leave his cell and had not been present for any prior hearings. He had also failed to attend a meeting with the probation service or a video conference with his legal representative prior to the hearing, which was due to be adjourned as a result.
Iqbal joined remotely from HMP Leeds wearing a pair of sunglasses.
During the 10 minute hearing, Iqbal pretended to vape, dismissed his legal representative and said he would represent himself before storming out of the room.
He accused his legal representative of missing appointments before saying: “I am more than capable of representing myself.
“Please leave the court because I can feel your energy.”
The defence councillor said that her firm would close the case from her end before exiting the courtroom and saying: “I’m bringing negative energy to the court room apparently so I’m going to leave.”
Iqbal said that he would apply for bail and so details of the case began being read out by the prosecution, Nadine Clough, while a muted Iqbal continued talking and pointing at the camera.
The first case related to the assault of an emergency worker, which happened on November 25 last year after police were called to reports of “a man damaging a flat”. Upon arrival they heard “screaming and shouting” and forced entry into the flat, where Iqbal was described as being “erratic”.
He made threats to the officers and then as he was led outside he kicked the police vehicle before kneeing an officer in the groin area, leaving him “in immediate pain”.
The court heard that the first religiously aggravated criminal damage offence happened on November 29 last year when Iqbal targeted a multi-faith room at St James’s Hospital; smashing a framed Islamic scripture before defacing multiple Qurans, tearing out pages, setting them alight, and using them to block the sink and toilet.
He returned to the hospital two weeks later, on December 9, and deliberately stuffed miscellaneous items down the drains to cause a blockage. The following day, he attempted to access the multi-faith room again but found it locked due to the earlier damage.
In a previous hearing it was also heard that after being arrested and placed in custody, Iqbal requested crayons and used them to write "kill Jews" on his cell wall.
The sentencing hearing was rescheduled for March 6.