quot;Go back home if you cannot stand blacksquot;

LONDON, FEB 19: A Bangladeshi man, who claimed to have developed an irrational fear of Afro-Caribbean people after being beaten by two su...

LONDON, FEB 19: A Bangladeshi man, who claimed to have developed an irrational fear of Afro-Caribbean people after being beaten by two suspected drug dealers, at the burger restaurant he managed has been told by the High Court in London to move to the countryside or go to Bangladesh.

Mohibur Rahman8217;s lawyers, pressing his claim for damages against his former employers and the hospital that treated him, told the court that he was now unemployable and spent all his time in his uncle8217;s flat too afraid to go out.

Justice Rougier, awarding him some 600,000 pounds in damages refused an additional 200,000-pound award on this count, saying that Rahman should live somewhere 8220;where there are no black people or so few8221; that they presented no risk of aggravating his phobia.

Justice Rougier said that of all the places that Rahman, a resident of Battersea in south London, should not live, 8220;south London tops the list. London is a multi-racial city and it is not possible to go for a five-minute walk or enter acouple of shops without seeing people of Afro-Caribbean origin.8221; He added that there were still areas of the countryside and small towns in Britain which did not have an Afro-Caribbean population worthy of the name.

In 1995, 30-year-old Rahman was attacked by two men, suspected to be drug dealers, who he had banned from the King8217;s Cross branch of Burger King where he worked. The men splashed hot oil on his legs, kicked and punched him, badly injuring his right eye. Added to this, surgeons at University College Hospital, botched the operation Rahman underwent following the attack leaving him blind in the right eye.

Rahman sued his employers, Burger King franchise owner Arearose Ltd for failing to take security measures which could have prevented the attack. While working there he had frequently complained about the trouble in the restaurant, which drew in the drug dealers, prostitutes and drunks, who inhabit the King8217;s Cross station area. He had also sued University College London Hospitals for medicalnegligence.

His lawyers told the court that Rahman had develop a severe depressive disorder, which at one time left him wanting to kill the surgeon who had operated on him. The lawyers said that he had also developed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder which was manifest in an 8220;intense and wholly irrational dread of Afro-Caribbean people.8221;

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They argued that their client tended to misinterpret quite innocent actions, and recently while driving tried to run down a black man walking along the pavement. Rahman, who they said is unemployable and spends all his time in his uncle8217;s flat in Battersea 8220;in alternating states of listlessness and terror,8221; is now looked after by his wife, Shefun, who had 8220;abandoned a career in law8221; to care for him.

The judge said that suggesting that Rahman move out of London, was 8220;not as though it will be tearing him from his roots as they are in Bangladesh and his enjoyment of London, if it can be called that, is confined to the four walls of his uncle8217;s flat.8221;