A MAN convicted of violence following the murder of Thierry Christian-Gnanakumar in Lewisham stabbed a teenage boy in the face during a 2005 incident - but was only handed 200 hours' community service order and a £250 fine.

Mahmud Ahmed, aged 23, who is scarred for life, says he has lost all faith in justice following the attack on him by Jeyaruban Vivekananthan and believes things could have been different if his attacker had been treated more harshly.

Mr Ahmed was just 14 when Vivekananthan attacked him with a knife, stabbing him in the face and head, in 2005 outside Kidbrooke School following a previous fight.

The victim, who has since left the area, needed 38 stitches and even now has five-inch scars across his face and head. Vivekananthan later admitted wounding at the Old Bailey.

But Mr Ahmed said: "To be honest that sentence was a joke. It made me lose all hope in the justice system in this country.

Last week Vivekananthan, aged 26, of Nightingale Heights, Woolwich, was cleared of murder but convicted of violent disorder and sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail.

It followed the death of Thierry Christian-Gnanakumar who was beaten to death with cricket bats, hockey sticks and metal poles on November 10 last year.

Mr Ahmed said: "This new sentence is disgusting too. If the courts had acted the way they should have done before, maybe things would have been different for this Lewisham chap."