AN Aberystwyth student has been warned he was “very, very lucky” to avoid being sent to prison after he assaulted three fellow students in a drunken attack.

Sulaiman Masud, 21, was given a suspended prison sentence after magistrates heard that he had refused to walk away from confrontation.

They were told he had acted like “an absolute idiot” after trouble flared when he tried to “chat up” another student’s girlfriend.

Masud had initially pleaded not guilty to three charges of assault, insisting he had acted in self-defence.

But he changed his pleas on the day of his trial, admitting all three charges.

Prosecutor Vaughan Pritchard Jones said the incident was sparked when Vimal Subramanian became unhappy at how Masud was speaking to his girlfriend.

He had told Masud, who was holding a bottle of alcohol to go away, but he refused.

Chris Deter, another student in the flats, came to try and defuse the situation, but Masud made threats, saying he was going to “pull your lungs out of your body”, before pushing Mr Subramanian.

Mr Subramanian then “lashed out” and hit Masud in the face, but Masud then launched punches back hitting Mr Subramanian to the head.

Mr Deter split the two of them up and ushered Mr Subramanian into his room before trying to calm Masud down.

However, after a short while, Masud launched an attack on Mr Deter punching him to the head and upper body and forcing him to the floor. He then started kicking Mr Deter.

Masud left, but one of the girls in the flat called a friend who arrived at the scene and saw Masud as part of a group and asked what had happened.

Masud then approached him and threw two punches, one hitting the victim to the neck.

Mr Pritchard Jones said Masud, now living at Room 9, Pumlumon Hall on Marine Terrace, had five previous convictions for assaults.

Aberystwyth magistrates heard that Masud told a probation officer that he acts like “an absolute idiot” when drunk, but doesn’t like to back down from confrontation.

Defence solicitor Alison Mathias said jailing him would lead to him losing his place as a mathematics student at the university and would see him “blacklisted” with his family.

Aberystwyth magistrates said they had considered an immediate prison sentence, but gave Masud a five-month prison sentence for the assault on Mr Deter with one month in custody to run concurrently for the other two charges.

However, all sentences were suspended for two years.

Masud will also do 120 hours of unpaid work, pay costs of £700 and compensation totalling £250.