A racially-motivated attacker spat into the face of a nine-month-old baby, shouting “white people shouldn’t breed” at her mother, a court has heard.

Rezzas Abdulla approached Rebecca Telford while she was taking her baby Layla-Jean for a stroll in a pram in South Shields last January.

Prosecutor Emma Dowling told Newcastle Crown Court: “He lent into the pushchair and spat into the face of her daughter. As he did so, he shouted or said ‘white people shouldn’t breed.’”

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When Telford confronted Abdulla, he told her to “shut the f*** up” and walked off, according to the Daily Mail.

The baby was said to have been covered in saliva. The spit had been “sprayed around” the baby’s face and a shocked passer-by gave Telford a tissue so that she could clean her baby up.

The court heard that Layla-Jean, now almost two, was taken to the doctor for tests after the attack due to fears that she could have contracted TB.

In a victim impact statement, Rebecca told police: “I am completely disgusted and distressed that a grown man, regardless of race or religion, would spit on a defenseless baby in a completely unprovoked attack. If he had just walked by I would not have even noticed him, there was no eye contact and no words had been exchanged. I had never seen him before.”

Abdulla, who has two previous convictions for race-hate attacks on white women, was later tracked down through CCTV.

On Tuesday, he was convicted of racially aggravated common assault after a trial at South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court, which he did not attend.

Abdulla was sentenced to eight months imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, with rehabilitation and mental health treatment requirements.

Since last January’s attack, Abdulla has spent time receiving psychiatric treatment in hospital. The judge said “society in general” would be better served if Abdulla was allowed to continue his psychiatric treatment program.