Magistrates were told that fireworks are a “blight on the city of Bradford” during the sentencing hearing of a man who sold a firework to a child.
Yasir Mukhtar Choudry was given a community order, including 90 hours of unpaid work, when he appeared at Bradford Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.
Choudry, 37, of Duchy Crescent, sold the firework to a 16-year-old test purchaser from Trading Standards on 6 November last year, when he ran the pop-up store called Bang Fireworks on Whetley Lane.
It is illegal to sell a firework to anyone under the age of 18.
During the case, Choudry’s defence claimed he had been “duped” into selling the firework to the child.
The court heard that Choudry had been sent a letter by Trading Standards in October, warning him that there had been reports that the store had sold fireworks to children.
It warned him that a test purchase was likely in the near future.
On 6 November, a test purchaser and a Trading Standards officer entered the store.
Waseem Raja, prosecuting on behalf of Trading Standards, said: “On that date, the test purchaser approached the till and asked for a Vortex battery of shots.
“Money was handed over to Choudry, and he gave the test purchaser the firework. No ID was requested, and the test purchaser wasn’t asked for their age.”
In the following months, Choudry failed to respond to Trading Standards requests for an interview.
Choudry had initially pleaded not guilty to the charge of making a pyrotechnic item available to an underage person.
He changed his plea to guilty last month, shortly before his trial was due to begin, and the case was adjourned for the probation service to write a pre-sentence report, which would determine the most suitable punishment for Choudry.
But on Thursday, his defence, Mohammed Hussain, applied to have this plea vacated so Choudry could deny the offence.
He argued the presence of the adult test purchaser in the store during the sale meant Choudry was not guilty, and that the previous guilty plea had been based on bad legal advice.
Magistrates denied this request.
Mr Hussain said Choudry had noticed the adult Trading Standards officer, and said he asked the test purchaser if they were with them.
He said: “They answered in the affirmative. As a result, he thought it was ok to sell the firework to them.
“Because they were accompanied by an adult, he felt he was selling to both of them rather than the child.”
He said his client was living on benefits, and the pop-up shop had not worked out and was now closed.
He suggested a conditional discharge would be a suitable punishment for his client.
Referring to this suggestion, Mr Raja said: “In this circumstance, the message has to go out to the good people of Bradford that we won’t tolerate the sales of fireworks to children.
“Fireworks are a blight on this city – night after night, people are blighted by fireworks going off. If you give a conditional discharge, that will be reported, and sends out the wrong message.”
Chair of the bench F Sunter replied: “We will make a decision based on what is right for the defendant, not whether it is right for the city of Bradford.”
Mr Raja pointed out that in 2019, Choudry was prosecuted for his role in a counterfeit clothing operation that saw logos of music artists, bands and sports teams illegally printed onto clothing and distributed globally via eBay and Amazon.
The five defendants in that case were ordered to pay back a total of more than £1.5m.
Mr Raja claimed this previous conviction was relevant to the current case as it showed “the lifestyle he has been used to in the past”.
Mr Hussain said this claim was “nonsense” and said: “This is a man who lives on benefits.
“His previous conviction has no relevance to this offence.”
He said: “This case is about two people who came into the store on a sting operation and duped him into selling a firework to a child.”
Choudry was given a 12-month community order, during which he will be required to carry out 90 hours of unpaid work and attend 10 rehabilitation activity days.
He was also ordered to pay £764 – a mix of a fine, court surcharge and costs to Trading Standards.
