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Teenager jailed after beating a rabbi over the head with a concrete brick

'It's nothing short of miraculous that Mr Goodwin didn't sustain life-threatening or life-changing injuries,' the judge said

August 11, 2022 16:42
The Goodwins
4 min read

A teenager who beat a rabbi over the head with a concrete brick in a vicious antisemitic attack has been sentenced to three years and seven months in a young offender institution.

But the judge expressed his frustration at not being able to give the attacker a longer term behind bars after he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge than he might have faced.

Rabbi Rafi Goodwin, from Chigwell & Hainault United Synagogue, north-east London, was targeted by two men as he drove his car from the building with his three young children -- aged two, four and five -- in the back.

Souraka Djabouri, 19, and a second, unidentified, man walked from behind a parked van into the path of the car, causing Rabbi Goodwin to brake.