Asian trio guilty of race riot murder
Staff and agencies
Monday May 22, 2006
Isaiah Young-Sam, who was stabbed to death during the Lozells race riots in Birmingham last year. Photograph: West Midlands police/PA
Three young Asian men were found guilty today of murdering a black IT worker, stabbed through the heart during race riots in Birmingham last October.The jury at Birmingham Crown Court convicted Waqar Ahmed, 26, Azhil Khan, 23, and 22-year-old Afzal Khan, all from the Handsworth area of Birmingham, of killing Isaiah Young-Sam on October 22.
The trio had denied murder. However, the jury, which began considering its verdict on Thursday, was told how they fled to Huddersfield hours after the attack before returning to Birmingham the next day and booking one-way flights to P*kistan. They were held during a stopover in Dubai and returned to Britain.
Mr Young-Sam, 23, had been walking through the Lozells area of Birmingham with his brother Zepheniah and two friends on the evening of October 22 when he was chased and stabbed by a gang of men wearing hooded tops and bandanas, the court was told.
The group had been taking a quiet back route so as to avoid violence which had broken out between the city's black and Asian communities over a rumour -- widely circulated but unsubstantiated -- that a West Indian girl had been raped by a group of Asian men inside a shop.
The court heard how the four men appeared to have gone past the danger area when a gang of Asian men got out of a Toyota Corolla and chased them.
Mr Young-Sam was caught by the gang, who surrounded him and produced weapons from under their clothing while shouting racist abuse, the court was told. He was fatally stabbed while one of his friends, Locksley Byfield, was wounded in the buttocks.
The three defendants were also convicted of wounding Mr Byfield with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
After the verdict, Mr Young-Sam's 22-year-old sister Kavina, flanked by her parents, read a statement describing him as a "kind, fun loving, humble, respectful and dignified young man" who lived at home and studied the Bible.
"My parents, my brother and myself will never come to terms with the vicious attack and murder of Isaiah and cannot understand how people could take the life of such an innocent young man," she added, calling the killers "animals".
During the trial, prosecutor Adrian Redgrave QC described Mr Young-Sam's murder as "a wicked killing of someone who was a total stranger to those involved in the attack".
Although it was not known which of the three defendants made the fatal wound, this was irrelevant, Mr Redgrave argued, saying: "Not only the killer himself but anyone who helped or encouraged him may be convicted of murder."
The rumours about the rape prompted protests outside the shop were it supposedly took place, with the tension later erupting into violence in which businesses were attacked, cars set on fire and hundreds of police wearing riot gear pelted with bricks and bottles. Around 35 people needed hospital treatment.
During the trial, the prosecution stressed that the case was not linked in any way to the rape allegation, but was simply "one specific attack during the course of the rioting that ensued".
RIP young brother.
ower
The struggle continues.
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