Student dies 3 years after city centre attack
‘CARING’ MAN HAD BEEN BEDBOUND AND UNABLE TO TALK OR MOVE FOLLOWING ASSAULT
A BUSINESS student who spent three-and-half years bedbound and unable to talk or move after a ‘Mad Friday’ attack at Deansgate Locks has died.
Police believe Noordin Jilib, from Hulme, was assaulted after he left the former Sugar Buddha bar on Whitworth Street West in the city centre in the early hours of December 20, 2014.
Then aged 22, the ‘energetic, funny and caring’ young man was found collapsed on the pavement with a ‘catastrophic’ head injury and facial injuries.
Noordin, who was studying at the London School of Business and Finance Manchester and volunteered for Hulme-based charity Mothers Against Violence, never recovered and required specialist round-the-clock care ever since.
He was never well enough to speak of what happened to him, the extent of his brain damage left him unable to move or communicate. He died aged 25 on June 6 after he was admitted to Wythenshawe Hospital with pneumonia, Greater Manchester Police, who have stepped up efforts to find his attacker, have now revealed.
Detectives, who investigated the circumstances but had no success at the time, have launched a fresh appeal after Noordin’s death, reexamining the case and revisiting witnesses. The case is being treated as an assault investigation currently, but detectives say they believe his death is linked to the attack.
Noordin lived with his parents and two sisters but has been cared for in hospitals and specialist hospices since.
He was out with friends celebrating a pal’s birthday on ‘Mad Friday,’ the last working day for many before Christmas. Police found him at around 3.15am on December 20.
Det Insp Gary Smith appealed to friends Noordin was out with, a crowd who gathered as he lay on the pavement and anyone else with information to come forward.
He said: “Noordin was 22 at the time - a young lad out with friends in Manchester. They were in various bars on Deansgate Locks and he was found semi-conscious by a passing police officer outside what used to be Sugar Buddha bar. He had a catastrophic head injury and facial injuries.
“We need people to come forward and tell us what happened. We know very little and we need solid answers.”
Police said an altercation took place earlier inside Sugar Buddha, but Noordin was not involved.
Anyone with any information should call police on 0161 856 4409.