House shooting duo are jailed
DISPUTE OVER DRUGS LED TO SHOOTING ON NEW YEAR’S DAY
TWO gunmen are behind bars for firing shots through the letterbox of the wrong home after a drugs dispute turned to violence.
Jamal Ali Barrat and Nassir Mohammed have been found guilty of carrying out the shooting, at a home in Brunswick Village, Newcastle, during the first minutes of New Year’s Day.
The men had got involved in a drugs dispute in the days before the incident and decided to take matters into their own hands, say police.
In the minutes after midnight on the first day of this year, the pair drove on to Grey Street in the village and fired two shots through a letterbox.
However, they had got the wrong address and the innocent occupants of the home were left terrified.
They then assaulted a man in the street and fired two further shots, but no one was hurt by the bullets.
Barrat, 45, of Borough Road, North Shields, was arrested within 24 hours.
Mohammed, 35, of Buckingham Drive, Sheffield, was later linked to the crime after extensive enquiries by Northumbria Police and arrested at his home in Sheffield in February.
Both men have each been jailed for 15 years at Bradford Crown Court after a jury found them guilty of possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence, criminal damage, possession of ammunition for a firearm without a certificate, and possessing a firearm while prohibited for life.
Qadir Mohamed, 28, of Greenland Way, Sheffield, also faced trial alongside the pair but was found not guilty.
Following the case, senior investigating officer Det Chief Insp Alan Cairns said the shooting was a reckless act by two dangerous offenders which left members of the community shocked.
“This case shows that these two men are a danger to the public and it is lucky that nobody was injured as a result of their actions, he said.
“They had got into a dispute with two persons they knew through their criminal activities and decided that they wanted to take revenge.
“In the end they have ended up shooting at the wrong house and left the occupants of that address absolutely terrified.
“This was a very reckless act by two dangerous offenders and someone could quite easily have been killed. I want to thank the bravery of all the victims and witnesses who have given evidence in court. You have helped put two violent men behind bars.
“Crimes of this type involving firearms are thankfully still very rare on Tyneside but if anyone does have intelligence about a dangerous offender then please get in touch.”
Sentencing the pair, Judge Durham Hall QC, The Recorder of Bradford, said: “This case concerns very serious and grave offending involving the discharge of four rounds from a firearm in Newcastle in the early hours of New Year’s Day.
About Barrat he said: “You are a serious drug dealer, you are capable of extreme violence, invariably using a weapon whether a knife or a gun.
“You clearly saw yourself as a powerful serious player, within a 24-hour period as your paranoia and desire for vengeance built you called upon Nassir Mohammed. This was a cold blooded plan”.
And of Mohammed he added: “You did not hesitate to lend your services when called upon by ‘your blood’”.
Mr Hall described the actions as an ‘indescribably reckless and unscrupulous act.’ He added: “I am satisfied this was a mission to terrify and frighten, these are the actions of very dangerous drug dealers.”