Teenager blasted schoolboy with pepper spray in vape shop attack
A teenager blasted a schoolboy with pepper spray in an attack in a Paisley vape shop.
Blnd Hamamin assaulted the 14-year-old with the noxious substance in the Smoke Bar shop in Causeyside Street.
Smoke Bar boss Twana Rasul was also charged with assaulting the youngster.
Prosecutors claimed businessman Rasul, originally of Iraq, and Hamamin tried to kick the schoolboy on the body and then "did discharge pepper spray" at him.
But Rasul, who was the director of the now-dissolved Smokerbar Ltd company, had his not guilty pleas accepted to the two charges he faced.
As well as being charged with the assault, the 30-year-old, of Renfrew, was cleared of claims he broke the Firearms Act 1968 by illegally being in possession of a noxious substance.
Hamamin held his hands up to the attack, pleading guilty over the assault, and was cleared of the same firearms offence.
Both men appeared in the dock at Paisley Sheriff Court today, Friday, October 2, 2026, for a pre-trial hearing in connection with the case.
Hamamin, of Espedair Street, Paisley, admitted assaulting the 14-year-old, who can't be named for legal reasons.
The attack took place at the shop in the town's Causeyside Street on September 19 last year.
Hamamin was assisted by a Kurdish interpreter during the hearing.
Procurator Fiscal Depute Christine Clark moved for sentence, telling Sheriff Mungo Bovey KC that Hamamin had no previous convictions.
The prosecutor said there was a written narration of the facts of the case, but the narration was not read out in court.
Hamamin's lawyer said: "Given Mr Hamamin is of such a young age, has no previous convictions, and the significant personal background I know about him, my motion for the court today is to defer sentence for the preparation of social work reports."
Sheriff Bovey KC called for background reports from social workers, a Restriction of Liberty Order assessment and electronic monitoring assessment, to see if Hamamin could be given an electronic tag as part of his punishment, and adjourned the case for that to be done.
Hamamin could be jailed for as long as five years for the attack when he returns to the dock later this month to learn his fate.
Companies House records show that Rasul, of Elizabethan Way, Renfrew, was a director of Smokebar LTD and three other companies which have since been dissolved.
Documents show his Smokebar LTD and Bubblegum Ice LTD companies dealt with "retail sale of tobacco products in specialised stores".
His Hayati Vapes LTD firm is specified as a "non-specialised wholesale trade" business, while his Limoya LTD company states it was "retail sale via mail order houses or via Internet".
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