Mallik Wilks: Hull City footballer spared jail for carnival attack
- Published
Mallik Wilks (left) was on loan to Doncaster Rovers from Leeds United at the time of the attack, and now plays for Hull City
Footballer Mallik Wilks has been spared jail for his part in a carnival attack in which a teenager was stabbed.
The Hull City player was given an 18-month suspended prison sentence after pleading guilty to affray and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
Wilks, now 21, was part of a group who attacked Curtis Rock at Leeds West Indian Carnival three years ago.
The judge at Leeds Crown Court said the footballer's contract could be ended if he was sent to prison.
Judge Mushtaq Khokhar said: "I am no footballing enthusiast [but] the new season starts the month after next and if you were not available to play for your club I was told it may be your contract will be terminated.
The court heard Wilks had "stayed clear of any trouble" and carried out a considerable amount of charity work since the incident.
Judge Khokar added: "Given you have stayed clear of any trouble since the commission of these particular offences, that is what caused me to take the route I have taken.
"It does not minimise in any way at all the hurt suffered by those who were victims of these assaults."
Mr Rock, who was 19 in August 2019, was "set upon" and stabbed at the long-running Chapeltown carnival and suffered a punctured lung, the court heard.
His cousin, Jonathan Rock-Morgan, was also punched or kicked.
Wilks, then 18, was the only person charged for either attack but Mr Rock told police Wilks was not the "main aggressor" and could not say whether he was one of the men who wounded him during the 15-second assault, the court heard.
The prosecutor said there was no forensic evidence linking Wilks to two knives at the scene.
Wilks was also ordered to pay £2,900 compensation to the victims as well as the 18-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months. He was given restraining orders preventing him approaching the victims.
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