A thug who claims to be disabled “sprinted like Usain Bolt” and attacked a man with pepper spray, a court heard.
Timothy Frostick, 37, launched the unprovoked assault on friend Malcolm Kempton after seeing him in a parked car in May.
As he marched over to the vehicle Mr. Kempton fled to a nearby supermarket but Frostick chased after him.
He fired pepper spray into the face of the defenceless 43 year-old who described the pain as “like putting your face in fire”.
Mr. Kempton told a court how Frostick “sprinted like Usain Bolt” to catch him – despite claiming disability benefit.
Frostick, of Cambridge, was convicted of possessing a prohibited weapon and assault occasioning actual bodily harm in the city.
Judge Jonathan Haworth sentenced him to nine months in prison, suspended for 18 months, and imposed a curfew.
He told him at Cambridge Crown Court: “As far as you being disabled, the CCTV shows quite clearly that you were capable of going after him into the Co-op and threatening him.”
Frostick had previously told the jury he was injured in a car accident in 2005 which left him with health issues including a damaged spine.
He also claimed his attack was self-defence but Melanie Benn, mitigating, said he now admitted he had “done the wrong thing”.
Mr. Kempton said he still has panic attacks and night tremors months after the attack.
He said: “I went in the Co-op for refuge. He was running after me, he didn’t have any crutches. He was sprinting after me like Usain Bolt.
“I thought for what he did to me he was going to go to prison, but at least there has been justice. I’d rather have had an apology but that hasn’t happened.
“A real man would not use weapons, they would use their fists. It’s caused me a lot of stress and I just hope I can put it all behind me now.”
Frostick was also given a restraining order barring him from contacting his victim for two years and ordered to pay him £400 compensation.
