An Ipswich man who “took the law into his own hands” and repeatedly punched a man in a shop has been given a suspended prison sentence.

Mohammed Semko was concerned about the victim’s relationship with a woman and on seeing him in a shop in Austin Street had threatened to kill him before repeatedly punching him, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

Twenty-year-old Semko had gone to the shop with another man at around 10.20pm on December 28, 2020 and on seeing the victim had asked him what he was doing there, said Catherine Bradshaw, prosecuting.

Semko made allegations against the victim and he and the man he was with had been verbally aggressive to him.

They had then started to repeatedly punch him with blows landing on the back of his head.

The victim, who also described kicks to his legs, dialled 999 and tried to get out of the shop where the attack on him continued.

Semko and the man with him had run off when they realised the victim had got through to the police.

As a result of the attack, the victim suffered injuries to the back of his head including a swelling.

Semko, of Wicklow Road, Ipswich, admitted assault causing actual bodily harm and breaching a suspended sentence order.

He was given ten months detention in a young offenders’ institution, suspended for two years, and ordered to do 80 hours unpaid work

He was also given a 30-day rehabilitation activity requirement and banned from contacting the victim of the assault for five years.

Sentencing him, Judge Martyn Levett said Semko had “taken the law into his own hands” and had assaulted the victim and threatened to kill him.

Richard Kelly, for Semko, said his client accepted punching the victim but denied kicking him.

He said Semko had come across the victim in the shop by chance.

Semko was given a 15-month suspended sentence in July 2019 for violent disorder following the stabbing of a 16-year-old boy in Landseer Road, Ipswich, in August 2017.

Semko accepted chasing the victim but denied involvement in the stabbing, and gang member Martell Dacus was jailed for at least 12-and-a-half years for the attack.