- Hamzah Albar stopped a would-be rapist after pinning the attacker despite being punched. He ensured he was apprehended.
- Ian Hudson was jailed for nine years for the attack, while the judge formally commended Hamzah for his extraordinary courage.
A judge has commended Hamzah Albar for his extraordinary courage and public-spiritedness. He intervened to stop a would-be rapist during a street attack in Sunderland.
Ian Hudson, 42, was jailed for nine years after targeting a woman in Monkwearmouth on December 30 last year.
Hamzah, then 23, was walking to a local Tesco when he saw the attack. His phone battery died while calling police, so he bravely, without hesitation, stepped in himself. He approached Hudson, causing him to flee, then grabbed and pinned him down despite being punched in the face. He flagged down two passing members of the public who called the police. Hamzah is currently a student in the U.K. who is from Saudia Arabia.
In a statement read in court, the victim said: “I didn’t know there was evil out there like him but now I have seen evil, and it terrifies me.” She added: “That night I honestly believe he would’ve killed me if the witness hadn’t come along.”
Recorder David M Gordon said: “I wish to formally commend Mr Hamzah Albar for his extraordinary courage and public-spiritedness.”
“Mr Albar intervened without hesitation to prevent the rape of the complainant who was in clear and immediate danger.
“In doing so, he not only placed himself at personal risk, but was in fact assaulted by the defendant as he restrained him until the police arrived.”
In a police-released video interview, Mr Albar said he refused to let Hudson escape.
“He knew what he had done was despicable and he was trying to run away from the consequences as urgently as he could,” he said.
“Ultimately, I was not going to let that happen.”
He later met the victim, who told him she had been fighting Hudson off for several minutes and was on the point of giving up when Mr Albar appeared. After the sentencing, Detective Constable Hayley Macintosh said: “The offences which Ian Hudson inflicted on his victim were truly horrific.”
