AN armed robber who battered a takeaway owner with a knuckle-duster has been jailed for five years.
Sammy Evans claimed Mohammed Shafiq owed him £1,000 after he'd supplied him with slot machines.
Mr Shafiq had been in a food preparation area at Queen Fried Chicken, in Abbey Street, Lenton, when Evans confronted him on November 11, 2011.
Mr Shafiq asked him to wait but Evans swore and punched him with the knuckle-duster.
He then grabbed a knife and said he would stab Mr Shafiq, before holding it to his throat and threatening to cut it.
He left with £800 and warned, as he walked out of the door: "I'll be back for more. Don't call the police... I will burn down your shop and your house."
Evans, 34, of Nottingham Road, New Basford, returned to the takeaway in April last year to apologise. Mr Shafiq told him that saying sorry was not enough and urged him to hand himself in to police.
Evans did not and was arrested in June last year.
At Nottingham Crown Court yesterday, he admitted robbing Mr Shafiq and possessing an offensive weapon.
Evans had a previous conviction for possessing a knuckle-duster in 2009.
Judge Michael Stokes QC said the incident was appalling.
"Mohammed Shafiq was providing a public service in his small restaurant-cum-takeaway, in Abbey Street, Lenton," he said.
"It was at night. You went in armed with a knuckle-duster, which you had been manifestly carrying in the street beforehand. You demanded money from him.
"You then attacked him and punched him hard using that. You repeatedly attacked him with it, causing unpleasant injuries including a fractured bone in his cheek.
"The man was plainly terrified."
Evans received five years for the robbery and 18 months, to run concurrently, for possessing the knuckle-duster.
Harry Bowyer, in mitigation, said there had been a "perceived debt".
He said Evans had known Mr Shafiq for four years and had been renting him the fruit machines.
"He has no previous convictions for robbery.
"This is an offence that is out of character.
"During this incident, he was making a living renting out fruit machines.
"He has given that up and gone back to painting and decorating."
