A British man has avoided jail time despite being convicted of assault for spitting in the face of a 9-month-old baby.

The man also allegedly told the baby's mother, "White people shouldn't breed," the Shields Gazette and the UK Daily Mailboth reported.

The attack reportedly took place last January near South Tyneside, England. 

According to an account of the accusations in the Shields Gazette, Rebecca Telford, 25, was out walking with the infant when Rezzas Abdulla, 33, approached without warning. Abdulla was identified as the attacker from CCTV recordings. 

"He lent into the pushchair and spat into the face of her daughter," prosecutor Emma Dowling told the court. "As he did so, he shouted or said, 'White people shouldn't breed,' then walked off."

The Shields Gazette reported that Abdulla has two prior convictions involving hate crimes. The judge in Abdulla's case said, "You have got a problem, it seems to me, with white women."

Telford told the court that she had never seen Abdulla before the attack.

"I am completely disgusted and distressed that a grown man, regardless of race or religion, would spit on a defenseless baby in a completely unprovoked attack," Telford said. "If he had just walked by I would not have even noticed him, there was no eye contact and no words had been exchanged."

The judge ordered Abdulla to continue mental health treatment as part of his sentencing following his conviction of racially aggravated common assault.