A Warrington man twice assaulted ambulance staff and gatecrashed a family’s Diwali celebrations and racially insulted them, a court heard.
Vikram Sharma, who has previous convictions for racially aggravated disorder, has been given a 15-month suspended prison sentence and warned not to drink alcohol.
“If you take drink and go out and commit any act of disorder or assault you are at risk of serving the 15 months,” said Judge Gary Woodall.
Liverpool Crown Court heard that 42-year-old Sharma has been responding well to a previous alcohol abstinence order imposed in December for another racially aggravated assault of an emergency worker.
Judge Woodall said that the latest sentence, suspended for 18 months, “is designed as an incentive to continue to try to resolve your addiction.”
He said that the defendant did not seek to justify his behaviour and acknowledged he had failed to behave properly. He had suffered trauma as a child and suffers from paranoia and bi-polar affective disorder.
The judge warned him that unless he addresses his alcohol problems “you will be coming back before the courts and the sentences will become more severe.”
Robert Wyn Jones, prosecuting, told the court that Sharma rang the NW Ambulance Service on May 11, 2023, saying he was having a cardiac arrest. On the way to hospital he began complaining about abdominal pains and was given gas and air.
“At some stage he began filming ambulance staff on his mobile and complained that they were being aggressive toward him and that they were not helping him. During the journey, the defendant aggressively shouted “you need to stop the van.”
The ambulance stopped to let the defendant out and staff tried to take the gas and air pipe from him and said that if he was getting out they would need to take it back. The defendant shouted ‘don’t touch me, stop being aggressive’.
The female paramedic remained calm and explained that she could not let him leave with the ambulance equipment. He then tensed up and grabbed her arm. He had hold of her forearm and would not let go, said Mr Wyn Jones
He refused her repeated requests to let go and she felt pain and was in fear for her safety. When the defendant loosened his grip, she could see reddening on her arm and could feel throbbing.
He continued to claim that she was being aggressive and when she said ‘you’ve hurt me’ the defendant stated ‘I didn’t touch you, you touched me’.
The ambulance then had to continue moving and stopping because the defendant alternated saying he wanted treatment/wanted to be let out. At one stage he told the paramedic that she was not treating him because of the colour of his skin. Eventually, the ambulance arrived at hospital and the defendant was arrested.
On November 12 that year he knocked on a garage door at a house in Berkley Close, Warrington, where the family had gathered with friends to celebrate Diwali having returned from a Sikh temple.
He asked for a drink and they gave him one but he then said he wanted another one and refused to leave and became aggressive. The householder called the police and in the call described him as Indian.
He responded “I am not Indian, I am white English. You are bloody Indians.” He continued being verbally aggressive and shouting remarks including, ‘you f….ing b….d idiots. He then urinated against a wall behind the property.
He knocked at the home of neighbours and when one answered he said he needed an ambulance because of abdominal pains and one was called. He was argumentative and obstructive in the ambulance and demanded morphine.
When this was refused he referred to the two male paramedics as ‘white bitches’ and accused them of calling him a ‘P..i”. Outside the ambulance he threw a punch at one of the paramedics which he managed to avoid and the staff locked themselves in the vehicle and called the police, said Mr Wyn Jones.
Sharma, of Regent Street, Warrington, had initially denied the offences against him but changed his plea during his trial last November. He pleaded guilty to two racially aggravated offences of assaulting an emergency worker and racially aggravated harassment.
As well as the suspended sentence Sharma was ordered by the judge to carry out 15 days rehabilitation activities and an alcohol abstinence monitoring tag was imposed for 120 days. He also has to pay £1,200 towards the prosecution costs.
