Brother of evil arena bomber hides from his victims in cells
THE cowardly brother of Manchester Arena suicide bomber Salman Abedi refused to face his victims’ families in court yesterday.
Hashem Abedi, 23, sulked in the cells at the Old Bailey as the heartbreak he helped inflict on hundreds of lives was laid bare.
Relatives of the 22 men, women and children slaughtered in the 2017 bombing wept as they described the torment of their grief.
One father confessed he has often thought of shooting himself so he could be reunited with his daughter.
Speaking through tears, a mother told how her “heart snapped” when she heard her girl was dead.
Trauma
And another tormented family said: “Hell has no fear for us as it cannot be any worse than it is now.”
The scale of the relatives’ trauma was described in impact statements read to the court as a judge prepared to sentence the dead killer’s younger brother and evil accomplice.
Abedi was found guilty in March of 22 counts of murder and one count of attempted murder covering the 264 people who were wounded.
He was also convicted of conspiracy to cause an explosion.
Born and bred in Manchester, he was in Libya when his brother committed mass murder by blowing himself up at the end of a concert by US singer Ariana Grande.
But Hashem was just as guilty of the slaughter as he had assisted and encouraged Salman to carry out the atrocity in May 2017, the court heard.
The killer, who was arrested a day after the explosion, has never shown any remorse. Yesterday he refused to appear in court for the start of a two-day sentencing hearing.
The judge, Mr Justice
Jeremy
Hashem Abedi, pictured above, refused to face the families of victims including Liam Curry and girlfriend Chloe, who were among 22 people killed in the 2017 atrocity
Baker, said he had no power to force him into the dock.
Abedi cannot be given a whole life sentence as he was under 21 at the time of the blast. But he could get multiple life sentences and faces a minimum of 30 years behind bars.
Despite his absence from court, some relatives addressed their words to him as if he was there.
Caroline Curry held up a picture of her 19-year-old son Liam and said: “You took from me something more precious than gold, a beautiful boy, inside and out.” Liam, whose father Andrew died of cancer just weeks before the explosion, was killed with his girlfriend Chloe Rutherford, 17.
Chloe’s mother Lisa said: “Somehow we are expected to get through life without her, without our baby girl, and it feels impossible.”
Simon Callander, whose daughter Georgina, 18, died, said in a statement which was read out: “There have been many times if I had been near a gun I would be with her now.”
The parents of Eilidh MacLeod, 14, from Barra in the Outer Hebrides, said: “No parent who ever takes their child to a concert should ever have to take them home to bury them.”
The ages of the murdered victims ranged from eight to 51.
The hearing, which was relayed to Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle and Glasgow and other cities, also heard from wounded survivors.
One woman described how she recalls her ordeal “again and again, sometimes up to 10 times a day.”
A father who lost an eye said he was haunted by anger and guilt.
Samantha Leczkowski, who was wounded herself and watched daughter Sorrell, 14, die in her arms, said: “Losing one of my children has killed me. I may as well be dead.”
Figen Murray, mother of victim Martyn Hett, 29, said the loss had left “a massive void.”
The hearing continues.