Man in gang who killed dad-of-2 has jail term increased
AN illegal immigrant who was part of a gang who stabbed to death a dad-of two in Birmingham has had his sentence increased by two and a half years.
Warsame Mohamed was jailed for four years and six months in July of this year for the manslaughter of young dad-of-two Zakir Nawaz.
He hunted down Mr Nawaz after a minor car crash in a revenge attack which saw the victim stabbed to death in a prolonged assault.
The Court of Appeal has now increased this to seven years in jail after the original sentence was referred as being “unduly lenient” by the Solicitor General.
Mohammed, now 24, had also received a two-year jail term in July to run concurrently for a charge of violent disorder.
At first he stood trial for murder but later changed his plea to guilty to manslaughter.
During the hearing at Birmingham Crown Court earlier this year the court heard how Zakir Nawaz, 21, from Stechford, died after being stabbed in Highfield Road, Washwood Heath, in September 2016.
His youngest child had been born just days before his death, and was out with an old school friend.
Mohamed and two other men were in a vehicle that had earlier collided with the victim’s hire car.
The court heard how the trio were out for revenge, looking for the occupants of the car who they felt had caused the collision.
Mr Nawaz and his friend were attacked outside a restaurant by Mohammed and a group of other individuals.
The group violently attacked Mr Nawaz for some time, using punches and kicks to injure him. As he tried to flee the scene, one of the men in the gang fatally stabbed him.
The court heard that, although Mohamed did not deliver the fatal stabbing, he did inflict kicks and punches to Mr Nawaz.
Following the incident, Mohamed and the man suspected of the stabbing, named in court as Abdulahi Shire, fled the country, resulting in a delayed trial.
After the Court of Appeal hearing the Solicitor General, Michael
Ellis QC MP, said: “The offender acted in a way that caused harm and suffering to the victim, before fleeing justice. A longer sentence is appropriate in this case.”
The hearing at Birmingham Crown Court had been told how after the incident Mohammed, who lived in James Turner Street, Winson Green, at the time, fled to Holland.
But when he sneaked back into the UK, he was arrested after police spotted him walking on the M40 in January.
West Midlands Police said they were working with Europol in a bid to trace Abdulahi Shire and bring him back to the UK to stand trial for murder.
A second defendant, a 29-yearold man, was jailed in March 2017 for two years after admitting a charge of violent disorder in relation to the assault on Mr Nawaz.
Speaking after the original sentence, Detective Sergeant Neil Aston, from West Midlands Police, said Mohamed played a lead role in the brutal assault.
He said: “He goes
Our argument was that he knew a member of his group was armed with a knife and was complicit in the killing
Det Sgt. Neil Aston
into
the melee, throws lots of punches and can be seen on CCTV running off with the man we believed stabbed Mr Nawaz.
“Our argument was that he knew a member of his group was armed with a knife and was complicit in the killing. My detectives worked really hard to secure this conviction, scrutinising lots of CCTV to piece together what happened and called upon forensic and facial-mapping experts to link Mohamed to the offence.
“Mohamed is the second man we’ve convicted over Mr Nawaz’s death. We are working with Europol in a bid to trace Abdulahi Shire and bring him back to the UK to stand trial for murder.”