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A teenager who performed Nazi salutes at German students moments before his friends unleashed a devastating racial attack has avoided custody.
George Potter, then 17, made the obscene gesture towards Daniel Ezzedine’s group in Canterbury twice, as other gang members prepared for violence.
Jack Barron then smashed Daniel Ezzedine in the face with a bag likely loaded with bricks, while Luke Fogarolli took a running stamp on the 17-year-old’s head.
Earlier this month Barron, 17, was sentenced to six years in a young offenders’ institute, and Fogarolli six-and-a-half years - including 12 months for a separate matter of dealing Class A drugs.
Last Wednesday, Potter, now 19, was handed 18 months in a young offenders’ institute suspended for two years for his part in the attack.
During a trial last year, Canterbury Crown Court was told Daniel suffered an “earthquake” of skull fractures during the attack in Canterbury city centre, resulting in a life-limiting brain injury.
The tragedy unfolded in June 2019 when, during a melee between the groups in Rose Lane, Daniel tried kicking out and was pulled to the floor. When he tried getting to his feet, Barron hit him with his heavy loaded bag with such force into Daniel’s right cheekbone that his head hit his left shoulder.
Laying unconscious, Fogarolli took a running kick at his head before the group fled into Beer Cart Lane.
Prosecutor Simon Taylor QC told how Potter delivered the first punch against a member of the German group in the lead-up to the tragedy.
He was not responsible for Daniel’s life-altering injuries, but was an “eager participant in the violence”, the court heard.
There is no evidence Potter knew Barron turned his black shoulder bag into a weapon.
But Judge Simon James told Potter that having indulged in the violence, he cannot “absolve himself of all responsibility for the consequences [to Daniel].”
He went on: “You were part of a group of similarly aged youths, who took objection to the presence of foreign visitors in, as you saw it, your town.
“Although not responsible for causing Ezzedine’s serious and life-altering injuries, you were engaged in fighting those in his group, and it is clear from the CCTV footage that you were an eager participant in the violence.
“You fall to be sentenced for taking part in the general violent disorder, which, in my judgment was both pre-planned and racially motivated, targetting as it did foreign students because of their nationality.
"Indeed, at a number of points in the lead up to this sorry incident of public violence you can be seen using a Nazi salute.”
Following his arrest Potter claimed he was dancing rather than performing Nazi salutes.
However, he pleaded guilty to violent disorder at the first opportunity, aged 18, in February last year. Barron, of Longbury Drive, Orpington, and Fogarolli, of Sturry Road, Canterbury, denied grievous bodily harm with intent but were convicted at trial.
Mitigating for Potter, John Barker said: “He finds that which happened is disgusting and he is appalled at the consequences for Danny.”
He argued his client is “deeply remorseful and shameful”, was immature, had no previous, and lived an unsettled childhood but is now working at a Covid test centre.
Potter also put his college sport studies and a potential burgeoning football career in America on hold, while completing 327 days on curfew, of which he broke four times.
Judge James explained he must sentence Potter as a youth despite now being 19 and was “just about persuaded” not to send him to custody.
“It is clear that my approach must focus on you as an individual, rather than the offence and I am compelled by both domestic and international law to avoid the imposition of an immediate custodial sentence unless there is no other option,” the judge said.
“Considering both that the overriding objective when sentencing youths and the pressures placed on the prison system by the reason of the pandemic, I am just about persuaded, because this offence was out of character that because you have pleaded guilty, I do not have to send you directly into custody today.”
Wearing a suit and mask with his family in the court, Potter, of Eaton Place, Margate, was told he will also have to complete 150 hours of unpaid work.
