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Asylum Seeker Jailed for 15 Months Over Bournemouth Hotel Knife Threats

CCTV captured the April 2024 five-minute disorder after a dispute over being served lunch at breakfast.

Overview

  • Bournemouth Crown Court jailed Ibrahim Zouari, 35, for 15 months for threatening a person with a bladed article during the Roundhouse Hotel incident.
  • Co-defendant Houssine Nouira, 32, was sentenced in May to 12 months, the threshold for automatic deportation subject to appeal.
  • CCTV showed Zouari arming himself with a chair and a knife and repeatedly chasing staff member Vignesh Ponnusamy, who told the court he feared he would be killed.
  • The disturbance began around 6:20 a.m. after the pair demanded lunch that met their dietary requirements while breakfast was being served.
  • Prosecutors said Zouari has since accrued convictions for assaulting emergency workers, shoplifting and public disorder, while mitigation cited trauma and a PTSD diagnosis.