A teenager has been jailed for the racially-aggravated attempted murder of a Syrian refugee in Edinburgh.

Shabaz Ali, 25, was repeatedly stabbed by Sean Gorman in an argument at a hostel in Upper Gilmore Place in the early hours of Thursday 3 May.

Mr Ali was attacked after knocking on the 18-year-old’s door and asking him to turn down his music.

Shabaz Ali in critical care at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary after he was stabbed (Picture: PA)

Gorman, who had been drinking and taken drugs, told him to ‘go back to your own country’ and ‘I will end your life’ before pulling out a pocket knife and stabbing him six times in the chest.


Gorman was given an extended sentence of 11 years and nine months when he appeared at the High Court in Edinburgh for sentencing on Friday.



It involves detention for seven years and nine months, followed by four years of supervision upon his release from custody.

Gorman was ordered to begin that sentence when he has finished serving 169 days of a previous sentence from 2017 for serious assault and endangering life.

Judge Lord Woolman told Gorman: ‘You carried out a frenzied attack on a stranger, Mr Shabaz Ali. You stabbed him six times, five times in the upper chest.

‘But you would have been a threat to anyone you came across that night.’

The court heard that Gorman had drunk most of a litre bottle of vodka and taken MDMA, valium and cocaine and was ‘hyper’ before the attack with a lock-knife.

Mr Ali and his cousin Malak Alahmad were assaulted after complaining about loud music which prevented them from sleeping.

Mr Ali’s father Sivan at Edinburgh High Court (Picture: Alan Simpson Photography)

Gorman told Ms Alahmad, who was staying at the hostel with her cousin and uncle: ‘Go away from here. This is not your country. Go back to your country.’

Gorman, of Duff Street, Edinburgh, pleaded guilty to charges of racially aggravated attempted murder and placing Ms Alahmad in a state of fear and alarm by shouting racially abusive remarks.

Lord Woolman continued: ‘The attack has caused Mr Ali serious physical and psychological harm. He cannot work. He can only take short walks with the aid of a walking stick. He awaits further surgery.

‘The incident has also had a profound effect on his family. His father has given up work to care for Mr Ali and no longer has an income.’

Mr Ali had fled to Scotland five years prior, after Isis terrorists killed nine members of his family, and was staying in the hostel while looking for a new home.

His father Sivan Ali told charity Positive Action in Housing that the attacker shouted at his son: ‘Why are you still here, why are you not back in your own country?’

Video footage shows the moments before Gorman attacked Mr Ali (Picture: BBC NEWS)

Mr Ali, who want to study engineering, knocked on his door after the loud music made him unable to sleep. He was due to work at manage a barber’s shop the next morning.

Doctors managed to save his life and arrested Gorman shortly after.

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Lord Woolman added: ‘The wounds sustained by Mr Ali put his life in peril. He required emergency surgery and admission to the intensive care unit for monitoring.



‘Without the urgent and expert hospital treatment he received, you could have faced a charge of murder.

‘The attack is made worse by various factors; without provocation, you attacked an unarmed man; you uttered despicable words to Mr Ali, which are reflected in your plea of guilty to the racial aggravation; you were on licence from another sentence for a violent attack involving a knife; you were on bail.

‘You also stand convicted of a second crime. You uttered racially abusive comments to Mr Ali’s cousin who resided in another room in the hostel and witnessed the attack.

‘The court must reflect public abhorrence against the use of such vile words because they have a major and adverse impact on the security of the whole community.’

Prosecution lawyer Alex Prentice QC said: ‘The accused stated that he didn’t think about the consequences of what he did. He only thought about it after. He felt bad about what had happened to the male and he was disappointed in himself as he was giving himself a prison sentence.

He was sentenced to 11 years at Edinburgh High Court (Picture: PA)

‘When asked if this was a racially motivated attack he said no. It had just been a spontaneous attack.’

Lord Woolman told Gorman – who has seven previous convictions – to turn his back on crime.

He added: ‘Because you are only 18, the sentence I shall impose aims not only to punish and deter but also to facilitate rehabilitation.

‘You still have a chance to reform your ways and make a positive contribution to society.’


Speaking after the case, Mr Ali’s lawyer Aamer Anwar welcomed the sentence.

He said: ‘Shabaz’s father Silvan Ali welcomes the significant sentence imposed today by Lord Woolman and the message sent out to violent racists like Sean Gorman.’

Before adding: ‘He was lucky to survive and it is likely he will never fully recover. Shabaz Ali is lucky to be alive.’

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