A business owner seriously injured trying to protect his barber shop being smashed up has been left traumatised by the ordeal.

Havel Waheb has only just returned to work after the brutal unprovoked attack outside his Head Office salon at the bottom of Star Hill in Rochester last October.

The 31-year-old had been walking back to his flat in the town after a night out when he caught Daniel Mason, 29, kicking the shutters and booting the security screen.

He said: “I asked what he was doing and then he started lashing out at me.

"I would not let him go as he tried to run away.

“I have been in this country for about 16 years and Rochester is a nice place where I have friends.

"But I have been through a very bad time and feel uncomfortable there now.”

Mr Waheb suffered a broke nose and a black eye after being punched in the jaw several times and being struck by a traffic cone.

The bench at Maidstone magistrates’ court heard he was having trouble breathing and experienced blurred vision.

He said at one point he would have to undergo surgery for his facial injuries.

Mason, of Upper Fant Road, Maidstone, admitted actual bodily harm when he appeared in court and was given a four-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and a six-month curfew.

He must attend 30 days of rehabilitation and adhere to an alcohol treatment requirement.

He must also pay £1,600 compensation and £200 court costs.

Simon Holmes, defending, explained Mason had been taking out his frustrations on the shutter because he himself had been the victim of an unrelated assault that evening, which had left him in a lot of pain.

He told police he did not remember much because he had been drinking, but regretted what he had done.

Mr Waheb said his business as well as his health had suffered as a result of the attack.

He has since handed the salon to a colleague and is focusing his efforts on another venture with the same name in Chatham town centre.