A Streatham Vale muslim who whipped a schoolgirl with a belt buckle because she had not prayed has been spared jail.

Somalian Abdikarim Abdirahman’s violent attack on March 5 last year left the 12-year-old girl with a bad cut to her head.

The 46-year-old, of Abercairn Road, delayed taking the girl to hospital after the attack and then asked her to lie to doctors about how she received her injuries.

He told police he felt justified in punishing the girl but later admitted it had been wrong.

At Inner London Crown Court on Friday he was handed a 24-week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, and 80 hours community service for the violent attack.

He will also be subject to a supervision order for 12 months.

Judge Mark Bishop told him: “You must understand that to hit a child with a belt, particularly with a buckle, is not only very dangerous but a completely unacceptable way for someone to behave.

“Courts in this country will protect children from this kind of abuse.”

The court heard how Abdirahman had gone into a rage in the girl's Brixton home after she told him she did not want to pray.

He hit her with a sandal before the girl fled to her bedroom. He followed her, took off his belt and brought the buckle crashing down on to her head.

He then dragged her by the leg out of the room before the girl’s mother ordered him to stop.

He pleaded guilty to causing actual bodily harm at a hearing in February.

He admitted the assault but said he had intended to whip the belt down on to the bed to scare the girl.

He claimed she had moved her head at the last minute, which is why the belt buckle struck her.

Judge Bishop told him if he committed another offence in the next 12 months he would go straight to prison.