Bat-wielding Sheffield robber is jailed after he targeted a woman selling her iPhone

Sheffield Crown Court heard on June 10 how Rifiqat Khan, aged 37, of Abbeyfield Road, at Pitsmoor, Sheffield, joined forces with a young co-accused who had arranged to buy an iPhone from a woman but he stole it during a meeting as Khan stepped in with a bat striking the woman’s boyfriend.

Neil Coxon, prosecuting, said the woman had arranged to sell her phone via Gumtree and had agreed to meet in Ecclesall but as the phone was handed to the co-accused he fled and was chased by the complainant’s boyfriend and Rifiqat Khan stepped out from behind a car with a baseball bat.

Mr Coxon added Rifiqat Khan passed the bat to the co-accused but after it was passed back to him he struck the woman’s boyfriend to his head with the bat.

The woman’s boyfriend threw Rifiqat Khan into some bins, according to Mr Coxon, and members of the public helped detain this defendant and the co-accused was also detained after he struck the woman’s boyfriend with the iPhone box.

Mr Coxon added: “Officers arrested the two defendants and discovered the mobile phone and the baseball bat.”

Khan, who has no previous convictions, pleaded guilty to the robbery from September 13, 2020.

The female complainant stated: “Since I was the victim of the robbery I have been suffering with agoraphobia. I have been having therapy with counseling.”

She added that the robbery has affected her career prospects and ruined her life.

Her partner stated he had been left suffering with headaches and with the fear of reprisals.

Rifiqat Khan also admitted handling stolen goods concerning another stolen mobile phone and he admitted conspiring to commit robbery from between August 20 and August 25, 2020.

Mr Coxon explained the co-accused had previously committed a knifepoint robbery and stolen a mobile phone from a man on Grimesthorpe Road who had arranged to sell his iPhone on July 23, 2020.

This stolen iPhone was traced to a man’s home who had unwittingly bought the phone from Rifiqat Khan for £475, according to Mr Coxon.

Mr Coxon added the co-accused and Rifiqat Khan’s phones also revealed messages indicative of unsuccessful phone sales, a plan to steal a phone and a discussion about using violence or involving others.

The co-accused, who was aged 16 at the time of the offences and cannot be named, was previously sentenced at Sheffield Youth Court to a 12-month community referral order with rehabilitation requirements.

Defence barrister Saleema Mahmood, representing Rifiqat Khan, said her client’s co-accused was the more sophisticated offender.

She added: “Despite his age, he is the more sophisticated offender given the nature of the messages and the contact he was having with potential victims.”

However, Ms Mahmood said Rifiqat Khan had introduced the idea of having a baseball bat out of fear because he had previously been a kidnap victim and he had been assaulted in a possible case of mistaken identity.

She said Rifiqat Khan had also turned to using a large amount of cocaine after the death of his mother in 2016.

Recorder Matthew Happold sentenced Rifiqat Khan to three years of custody.