AN ASYLUM seeker who assaulted a fellow refugee at his Bolton home has been sentenced to a community order for 12 months.

Bolton magistrates heard how Farid Abeali fled to England after his father died in 2000 and then his, brother and sister were all killed in Libya.

Steve Woodman, prosecuting, said he was staying at a house in Oxford Grove, Bolton, when he became drunk and started banging around upstairs whilst his fellow tenant, Leliasi Yasin, and former resident Souti Yaver were downstairs.

When Mr Yaver went to find out what was happening, Abeali started shouting at him in Arabic and, in the hallway, pushed him in the chest and produced a knife, telling him, "I kill you and go back to my country - no problem."

Before police arrived he began throwing possessions around, smashing Mr Yasin's vacuum flash.

He denied assault and criminal damage but was found guilty after a trial last month.

The court heard that 28-year-old Abeali, now of Park Road, Bolton, became addicted to hashish to help deal with his childhood memories and, when not available, he turned to alcohol instead.

Darin Millar, defending, said: "This young man has had a horrible life. There are some cases which cry out for the intervention of the probation service and this is undoubtedly one of those cases."

Magistrates sentenced him to a community order with 10 days of rehabilitation activity. and he was ordered to do 40 hours unpaid work.

As an asylum seeker, Abeali is only given a £5 a day allowance to live on and magistrates had to impose a mandatory £520 criminal courts charge upon him plus £6 compensation for the broken flask. He was ordered to pay it at a rate of £2 per week.