Accused sacked by tragic Ansar
ONE of three men accused of murdering a restaurant manager almost 25 years ago was sacked by him, a court heard yesterday.
Chef Jaspal Singh was fired six months before Ansar Shah was killed outside the Armaan restaurant in Ayr on October 4, 1993.
Singh, 54, Jagtar Singh, 51, both from Slough, Berkshire, and Balwant Singh, 58, of Dalmellington in Ayrshire, deny murdering Ansar, 38, by repeatedly stabbing him and kicking him on the body at the restaurant’s car park in Seafield Road.
At the High Court in Glasgow, Shahid Hussain, 59, who works as a chef and taxi driver and lives in Derby, told prosecutor Richard Goddard he owned the Armaan in 1993.
Mr Goddard asked: BY WILMA RILEY “Did you employ Jaspal Singh as a chef and did he have a nickname?”
Mr Hussain replied: “Yes, he was called Pally.”
The court heard that Ansar worked as a manager at the restaurant.
Mr Goddard asked: “You know the manager lost his life in the early hours of October 4, 1993?”
Mr Hussain replied: “Yes.”
He was asked if Jaspal Singh was sacked and said: “Yes, Mr Shah, the manager, sacked him because he wasn’t doing his job properly. He did it while I was away on holiday in April 1993.”
He said he received a phone call on October 4, 1993, telling him there had been an incident and that Ansar was dead.
Jagtar Singh also denies attempting to defeat the ends of justice by changing his clothing and fleeing to England.
The trial continues.