One of the men involved in carrying out a vicious acid attack on a three-year-old boy has been left with “significant injuries” after being assaulted in prison, according to his lawyer.

Jabar Paktia, 42, was jailed alongside five people after the child was left crying “I hurt, I hurt” when acid was flung at him in a Home Bargains store in Worcester.

The father of the boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was also found guilty of plotting to throw sulphuric acid with intent to “burn, maim or disfigure” the boy in the attack on July 21 last year.
He was described as being at “the heart of this attack” by the sentencing judge.

Paktia’s lawyer, Balraj Bhatia, said his client was attacked thrice since he ended up behind bars
Paktia, 42,and 43-year-old Saied Hussini,were found guilty alongside Adam Cech, 27, Jan Dudi, 25, Birmingham, and Norbert Pulko, 22.

Sentencing, Judge Juckes described the case as “unique”, telling the court he had “never come across a case in which there were so many people involved, targeting a child”.

Mr Bhatia said of the married father-of-four Paktia: “He has been attacked on three separate occasions in custody, receiving significant injuries as a result.

“He accepts he has been injured and may continue to be injured.”

Paktia and Pulko – who did not give evidence – along with Cech and Dudi, were described as “actively involved” by the judge and jailed for 12 years each.

The child suffered a 10cm burn injury to his left forearm and a 3cm burn on his forehead which needed specialist hospital treatment. He has since made a good recovery.

All three men were captured on CCTV at the scene of the attack, after following the boy and his mother to the store from their home in a Vauxhall Vectra.

The attack happened at 2.16pm on Saturday July 21
In CCTV footage shown to the court, the boy can be seen with his brother looking at toy footballs when a man wearing a white t-shirt and holding something walks past the pair and squirts liquid at one of the children from a small plastic medicine-type bottle.

The victim can then be seen running away from the assailant and the jury were told he screamed “I hurt” over and over again while looking for his mother.

Footage then showed the three men calmly making their escape – Pulko even stopping at the tills to purchase two items.

The attack followed what prosecutors claimed had been an “aborted attack” at a school eight days earlier.
During that incident, Pulko and Hussini were seen by eagle-eyed neighbours loitering in the area.

CCTV footage later showed Pulko approaching the child, who was walking with his mother, with an object held in his hand before he veered away without incident.

Pulko and middle-man Paktia, who introduced the father to Hussini, were also convicted of the same charge.
Hussini, who tested the strength of the acid on his arm before the attack, was also found guilty of the charge and was called a key member of the “organisation of lies”, by the judge.

The 43-year-old was jailed for 14 years for his senior role in the conspiracy.

He had claimed the father had been willing to pay £3,000 to carry out the job, adding Paktia, Hussini and the father all went together to first meet Pulko.

A feature of the trial was the “markedly cut-throat” defences, Judge Juckes said.

Sentencing, he said: “Even battle-hardened Crown Court judges were sickened when they heard the news that someone had attacked a three-year-old with sulphuric acid.”

He added: “It became increasingly apparent how well-planned this was, with links going back to the man at the heart of this attack, who was the boy’s own father.”

Judge Juckes said the men then “spent the night in celebration” after the attack, “as though none of you began to appreciate the monstrous thing you had done”.

He said: “It is an extraordinary thing in this case that not one of you, most of whom have no previous convictions, most of whom with families of your own, at any stage stood back and asked the question of yourself and others, ‘What are we doing?”‘

(Left to right; Adam Cech, Jan Dudi, Norbert Pulko, Saied Hussini, Jabar Paktia)