Data ‘wiped’ on phone, schoolboy’s inquest told
A PHONE belonging to a friend of Yousef Makki had some of its data wiped, an inquest into the fatal stabbing has heard.
Yousef, a high-flying Manchester Grammar School pupil from Burnage, died after being stabbed in the heart by friend Joshua Molnar in Hale Barns, Trafford, on March 2, 2019. He was 17.
On the fourth day of an inquest into the tragedy, the court heard police seized a mobile that belonged to a friend who was with Yousef on the night of the stabbing, Adam Chowdhary.
Mr Chowdhary, then 17, was arrested but told police he had not seen the stabbing and suggested the culprits had made off in a car.
On the night of the stabbing, the youth, from a wealthy family, was allowed to return to his home on Carrwood, Hale, with his mother and it was only after he had been arrested there that cops found his phone in the pocket of the front passenger side door of his mother’s car, the inquest heard.
When police examined his mobile, they discovered some of the data had been erased, the inquest was told.
Martin Bottomley, the head of the major crime review unit at Greater Manchester Police, told Stockport Coroners Court some material from Mr Chowdhary’s phone was deleted, although some of it was later recovered. He was not able to say how much of the material was deleted. Mr Bottomley said: “Normally what’s deleted is images, WhatsApp messages. But I can’t say that’s happened in this case.”
Mr Chowdhary was acquitted of perverting the course of justice following a trial at Manchester Crown Court. He was given a four-month detention and training order after admitting possession of a flick knife.
Yousef’s friend, Joshua Molnar, also 17 at the time but now 19, from Hale, was found not guilty of murder and manslaughter following a trial at Manchester Crown Court.
He told the jury Yousef pulled a knife first and said he acted in selfdefence when he stabbed the teenager. 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 last February.