A robber who smashed a shopkeeper’s skull with a machete was jailed for more than eight years yesterday.
Liam McMeechan, 23, has a string of robbery convictions and had been freed early from jail just 22 days before his vicious attack on newsagent Tahir Ahmed.
Judge Lord Boyd called him “a considerable menace” and ordered him to be supervised for two years after his release.
(Photo: Daily Record)
Tahir, 55, thought he was going to die as McMeechan struck him with the huge knife but still bravely tried to fight him off.
McMeechan launched the terrifying attack last August at Tahir’s shop in Trinity,Edinburgh.
Tahir was working alone when McMeechan came into the shop and yelled: “Give me the money.”
The shopkeeper hit a panic alarm and McMeechan’s accomplice David Allan, 50, fled.
But McMeechan began hitting Tahir over the head with the machete.
(Photo: Daily Record)
Tahir then grabbed the thug’s arm, but McMeechan struck him again.
Even though blood was pouring from his head, Tahir managed to throw a chair at his attacker.
McMeechan dropped the machete and fled empty-handed. The shop was ransacked.
Prosecutor Mark McGuire told the High Court in Glasgow: “The victim took a few moments to compose himself. It was only at this time that he realised he was bleeding heavily from his head.”
Staff from a nearby pharmacy gave Tahir first aid and doctors later put 14 staples in his head wounds. He is now scarred for life.
He said last month: “I was psychologically damaged as well as physically. When I’m in the shop, I’m always looking out for something or someone.
“I could see the weapon. I was thinking I was going to die as I was getting hit with it.”
It was the fourth time in Tahir’s 30 years as a shopkeeper that someone had tried to rob him.
McMeechan pled guilty to assaulting Tahir to his severe injury and permanent disfigurement.
Lord Boyd ordered him to serve the outstanding 414 days of his previous sentence and jailed him for another seven years.
Allan, the former partner of McMeechan’s mother, got 32 months for attempted robbery.
He told police: “This is heavy. It was never the plan. It went too far.”
Neither man showed any emotion as they were taken to the cells in handcuffs.