Inquest into teenager’s death WILL go ahead
AN INQUEST into the death of Yousef Makki is due to go ahead next month – despite lawyers arguing there is ‘no sufficient case.’
South Manchester Coroners Court confirmed the inquest is still scheduled to commence on November 8.
Yousef, 17, died after being stabbed in the heart by friend Joshua Molnar in a fight in Hale Barns, on March 2, 2019.
Mr Molnar, 19, from Hale, was found not guilty of murder and manslaughter following a trial at Manchester Crown Court last year.
He told a jury Yousef pulled a knife first and said he acted in selfdefence. However, he admitted possessing the knife which inflicted the fatal injury, as well as lying to police at the scene.
He was sentenced to a 16-month detention and training order before being released in February.
An inquest into the death of Manchester Grammar School scholarship pupil Yousef, from Burnage, was initially put on hold due to a number of ongoing criminal investigations.
An inquest date was listed for November 8 this year, following the conclusion of all the criminal proceedings linked to the case. But that process was thrown into doubt earlier this month when Mr Molnar’s lawyer questioned the reasoning as to why the hearing should resume.
Mr Molnar had been facing criminal charges over handling an iPhone stolen in a violent robbery weeks before Yousef’s death, although there was no allegation that he was involved in the mugging. He was handed a 12-month conditional discharge for the offence at Chester Crown Court in July. Earlier this month, Alexander Leach QC told a pre-inquest review at South Manchester Coroner’s Court that: “No fresh material has arisen about the circumstances leading to the death of Yousef Makki.”
He said: “We submit there is no longer a sufficient case for the resumption of this inquest. There is no link between the offence on February 17, 2019 and the night of Yousef Makki’s death. It is no longer proper for this inquest to continue.”
But Matthew Stanbury, representing Mr Makki’s family, urged coroner Alison Mutch to continue with the inquest next month as planned.
“There has never been a full exploration of what led to Yousef Makki’s death,” he told the court.
In a statement, Yousef’s family said they were ‘overjoyed’ at the coroner’s decision.