A WORKER at Turners in Fordham was knocked unconscious and needed seven stitches to a mouth wound after he was assaulted by a fellow employee. Both men had been packing fruit when Kader Sulaiman complained that his victim had put broken trays under his li

A WORKER at Turners in Fordham was knocked unconscious and needed seven stitches to a mouth wound after he was assaulted by a fellow employee.

Both men had been packing fruit when Kader Sulaiman complained that his victim had put broken trays under his line.

Fellow worker Yury Malchanau turned away - and remembered nothing more because he was knocked unconscious.

"When he came to, he was leaning against some pallets, he felt pain in his face, which was covered in blood," prosecutor Penny Cannon told Ely magistrates.

Sulaiman claimed he had injured Mr Malchanau by accident, believing he had been picking up pallets when he "somehow swung round and hit Mr Malchanau in the face."

Sulaiman, 48, of Ratcliffe Court, Welland, Peterborough, had denied causing actual bodily harm during the incident on July 2 last year, but was convicted in his absence at a trial last month.

Representing him in court this week, Gill McGivern said Sulaiman intends to appeal against his conviction.

He had been too unwell to attend his trial, because of shrapnel lodged in his spine, as a result of his army service. The court ordered a pre-sentence report and adjourned the case until March 25.