Ibrahim Zouari and Houssine Nouira caused a ‘ruckus’, chasing staff and threatening them with knives.
Ibrahim Zouari was jailed for 15 months (Image: BNPS)
Two asylum seekers who ‘exploded’ over what food was being served at a migrant hotel have been jailed. Ibrahim Zouari and Houssine Nouira returned to the Roundhouse Hotel in Bournemouth, Dorset, at 6.20am and demanded that the staff serve them lunch to meet their dietary requirements.
When the pair were told that it would not be possible as staff were serving breakfast, they caused a ‘ruckus’, chasing staff and threatening them with knives. At one point during the five-minute disorder, Zouari also brandished a chair. Eventually staff and other migrants staying at the hotel were able to calm the situation down.
Both were charged with threatening a person with a bladed article. Zouari was jailed for 15 months at Bournemouth Crown Court on Friday, and his co-defendant had already been given a 12-month sentence in May.
Zouari, 35, came to the UK illegally in 2022 from Libya, where he said he was tortured and his brother was killed by militia, and he has been diagnosed with PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder).
The court heard he had been ‘bounced’ from one asylum hotel to another before he ended up at the Roundhouse and had been there about two months before the incident happened on April 17, 2024. It was caught on the hotel’s CCTV, which was played to the court.
Stuart Ellacott, prosecuting, said: “They approached aggressively asking for lunch from the staff who told them that wasn’t possible as it was breakfast time they would have to make do with breakfast.”
Matters got out of hand when Mr Nouira began the violence, picking up part of the breakfast display and throwing it towards the staff.
The member of staff accepted that he threw some coffee back, then the real ruckus began. Mr Ellacott said on the CCTV Zouari can be seen with a knife in his hand and armed with a chair at another point as well as chasing Vignesh Ponnusamy “on a number of occasions”.
He added: “Mr Ponnusamy describes he thought he was going to be killed, it made him feel like it was his last day of his life; they were going to kill him as no one could stop them.
“It was a prolonged incident, there was a risk of serious disorder and serious alarm or distress was caused to the victim.”
The court heard that at the time Zouari only had a previous offence of theft, but since this incident has racked up convictions for assaulting emergency workers, shoplifting and public disorder offences.
Lauren Matthews, mitigating, said: “Mr Zouari is frustrated and annoyed that he essentially went along with his peers. He does express genuine remorse and accepts responsibility for his actions. “Mr Zouari comes from quite a depraved background. He came from Libya, he tells me he experienced torture while in Libya. He said there was a lot of political trouble, particularly because his family were pro-Gaddafi.
“His mother passed away some time ago, his father more recently during Covid and his brother was killed by militia. The only person left in his family is his sister, she is in a difficult marriage in Libya, that has caused their relationship to become fractured.
“He was brought here in 2022 and is an illegal entrant. He has never been granted asylum and his claim or appeal is ongoing.
“He just wants to live a peaceful life as much as possible. In Libya he trained in construction, something if he was given status in the UK he would wish to pursue. “He is someone who suffers from anxiety and depression and has a PTSD diagnosis which means he is unable to regulate his emotions in the same way, particularly in respect of conflict.”
Recorder Brian Fitzherbert said: “You and your co-defendant aggressively demanded that you be provided with lunch which met your dietary requirements. That obviously couldn’t be done because the staff were dealing with serving breakfast.
“Your aggression escalated and led to disorder. Mr Nouira began the violence by picking up part of the breakfast display and throwing it towards staff. When a staff member threw some coffee back, you and Mr Nouari exploded.
“You armed yourself with a knife and attacked a member of staff. He initially defended himself but seeing you had a knife he ran away and you chased him and chased him.
“You have asserted you just wanted to speak to Mr Ponnusamy after the initial violence. I reject that assertion. It’s a bizarre thing to assert. For one in order to speak to someone you don’t need to throw a chair at them.”
The incident took place at the Roundhouse Hotel in Bournemouth (Image: GOOGLE )
He added it was a prolonged incident, serious offence and in a place where vulnerable people were likely to be present. But he did accept ‘your PTSD was directly linked to your overreaction once the incident had begun’.
Recorder Fitzherbert said: “Although Mr Nouira started it, it’s my assessment that you played the leading role out of the two in what followed.
“You pose a risk to the public, I do not consider there to be a realistic prospect of rehabilitation.” Nouira, 32, came to the UK in a small boat in June 2023, having fled Tunisia, where he was being chased and threatened by the family of a woman he had gotten pregnant.
At his hearing, his lawyer sought to persuade the judge to sentence him to less than 12 months in jail, the criteria that triggers automatic deportation, although people can appeal under human rights law.
But Judge Robert Pawson said he could not as ‘serious disorder ensued’ and jailed him for 12 months.
