An Uber Eats driver and self-styled preacher has been cleared of attempting to murder a takeaway boss in a town centre park.

Maidstone Crown Court heard Hamdi Braeik "lined up and kicked" Mukhtar Hussain 's head "like a rugby ball" as he lay prone on the floor in Brenchley Gardens, Maidstone.

Braeik, 34, attacked 35-year-old Grill 91 boss Mr Hussain at 7pm on May 30 after they rowed over the way a female member of Mr Hussain's team was dressed.

Braeik, of Hart Street, had gone to the Week Street takeaway to buy a vegetarian burger for a homeless person but took exception when he saw the woman with her "boobs hanging out".

He advised her to cover up but tensions boiled over when Mr Hussain confronted him.

The disagreement continued outside the restaurant and saw Mr Hussain encourage Braeik to follow him into the park.

Braeik claimed what followed were efforts on his part to defend himself after Mr Hussain told him he had a knife.

He had previously admitted grievous bodily harm with intent but denied attempted murder and yesterday a jury cleared him of that charge.

He will be sentenced on February 14 after a report is prepared into his dangerousness.

Braeik told jurors while his actions were defensive he conceded the last few kicks were unreasonable. He wanted to "stop Mr Hussain chasing him", he said, and when he left him he was "on his knees" and not motionless on the floor.

But prosecutor Daniel Stevenson had said no knife was recovered from the scene and Braeik's actions were "intended to kill".

Braeik rugby tackled Mr Hussain and got him in a choke hold until he passed out before stamping, kicking and jumping on his head as he lay motionless, he said.

CCTV from Society Rooms Wetherspoon shows Braeik "lining up Mr Hussain's head like a rugby player lines up a rugby ball and kicking him square in the head," Mr Stevenson said.

"In that moment he intended to kill Mr Hussain. But for the intervention of two good Samaritans he may well have succeeded," he added.

Braeik ran off when witnesses from the pub shouted at him.

The scene which confronted them as they reached Mr Hussain would later bring one to tears as he recounted it to police.

Mr Hussain was "bleeding from one ear" and "grunting like a horse".

He was airlifted to King's College Hospital in London where he underwent a CT scan which confirmed that he had suffered a bleed on the brain.

He is now an inpatient at a hospital specialising in rehabilitation.

"He remains profoundly cognitively impaired. He suffers from confusion and confabulation and does not have the capacity to give an account or to give evidence," Mr Stevenson earlier told the jury.

During police interview it was pointed out that after arriving in Brenchley Gardens and "calmly placing his bottle of water down" Braeik "launched an attack" and Mr Hussain ran away.

Braeik had told officers he was protecting himself but when it was pointed out that Mr Hussain had fled he responded by saying: “That's because he’s a *****,” adding that he chased Mr Hussain “because he had no faith”.

Three hours before the attack Braeik, of previous good character, had attacked a transgender woman and her friend in Fremlin Walk.

Mr Stevenson told the jury: "The defendant took exception to her appearance and questioned whether she was a woman and whether her trans identity was consistent with a belief in God, Jesus or Mohammed."

She responded "robustly and provocatively to his transphobic questioning" and in response he launched an attack on her, swinging punches to her face and attacking her friend. Fortunately, neither were seriously injured.

Later, he told police that he had assaulted them after he tried to warn them about judgment day.

He has previously admitted assaulting both of them.