A SCHOOLBOY involved in violence which broke out in the centre of Newport between a Somali gang and a West Indian faction escaped a detention order yesterday.

Saeed Hashi, 15, of Commercial Road, Newport, was found guilty after a five-week trial of charges of violent disorder and robbing Mark Bush Jones of a mobile phone.

Yesterday Cardiff crown court heard that the robbery of Mr Bush Jones was among the incidents which sparked the violence on the night of February 7 last year.

Last month Somali gangsters Aboker Abyan, 23, of Harlequin Drive, Ali Mohammed, 22, of Francis Drive, Pill, and Abdul Hashi, 20, of Commercial Road, Pill, were jailed for a total of 35 years on charges of attempted murder.

Yassin Hashi, 21, of Commercial Road, Pill, was jailed for three years for violent disorder.

But yesterday Saeed Hashi (pictured) was sentenced to a community rehabilitation order for two years with a condition that he takes part in an intensive supervision and surveillance order.

Prosecutor Huw Evans said the violence was about as serious as you could get "outside a war zone".

Hashi was found not guilty of charges of robbery, of attempting to murder Stanford Bailey, causing him grievous bodily harm with intent, causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Frantz Germain, a charge of violent disorder and carrying a firearm with criminal intent.

He was later present during a confrontation involving bricks, stones and a machete.

The court heard Hashi had been in custody for nearly a year.

The judge told him: "If I locked you up for any longer it could not be for very long and would be a waste of time."

But he warned: "If you breach this order you will be banged up. If you carry it out that's the end of the matter."

Judge Roderick Denyer also ordered that for three months he observe a 7pm to 7am curfew.