Ex-boyfriend cleared over petrol bomb (From Banbury Cake)

Ex-boyfriend cleared over petrol bomb

9:30am Saturday 2nd March 2013 in News

A MAN accused of throwing a petrol bomb at his girlfriend’s family has been cleared of all charges.

Yisa Hassan-Sule walked free from Oxford Crown Court yesterday after a jury acquitted him of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm with intent, and affray.

The 28-year-old was alleged to have made a Molotov cocktail out of a wine bottle and thrown it at a group of people in Balmoral Avenue, Banbury, on December 3, 2011.

But his barrister Darren Snow said his client had been set up by the supposed targets of the attack – his ex-partner Alice Greatbatch, her father James Greatbatch, Tommy Butler and Harry Williams.

He told the court the group had conspired to break a bottle and pour petrol over it to frame Mr Hassan-Sule, of Broughton Close, Banbury, after he arrived in Balmoral Avenue to speak to his former girlfriend.

The pair left in his car after the defendant was punched by Mr Greatbatch and called a racist name, he said. But the group alleged he returned and threw a petrol bomb at them, striking a wall.

Mr Snow said there were “inconsistencies” in the accounts of the four witnesses relating to how he allegedly threw the bottle.

He said: “The reason they got it so wrong, I suggest to you, is there was an agreement to lie about this petrol bomb.

“But these people, far from being criminal masterminds, are simply incapable of a credible lie.”