By james art A 15-year-old boy who followed a teenager he did not know through Birmingham city center and stabbed him to death after a four-minute conversation has been jailed for life with a minimum of 13 years.
Muhammad Hassam Ali, known as Ali, was 17 when he died in hospital on January 20, hours after he and a friend were confronted by two masked 15-year-old boys they had never met while sitting in Victoria Square and they drank hot chocolate and chatted about cricket.
The two boys, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had followed Ali and his friend out of Grand Central Mall wearing Covid-style face masks.
Neither showed any emotion as they were sentenced by the judge, Mr Justice Garnham, who said the killing of 17-year-old Ali was “another illustration of the horrific consequences of carrying knives in public” as he remanded them at Birmingham Crown Court on Friday.
He said: “It is absolutely clear to me (Ali) was a much loved son and brother and his family have been left completely devastated by his death.”
He sentenced the second boy to five years of detention in secure quarters.
The trial at Coventry Crown Court earlier this year heard that in a conversation lasting around four minutes, the two boys asked Ali and his friend where they were from and if they knew who had ‘jumped their partner’ a week earlier. After Ali allegedly said, “Brother, I don’t know what you’re talking about, you’re making me angry,” the young man pulled out a large knife and stabbed him in the chest.
Jurors took just over four hours to reach unanimous verdicts in July, finding the young man who carried out the fatal attack guilty of murder and possession of a knife, and his friend, who was standing nearby when the stabbing happened, of guilty of manslaughter and possession of a knife.
In his evidence, the teenager who wielded the knife told the court he only wanted to “scare” Ali and his friend and that he had not intended to seriously injure or kill anyone.
Michael Ivers KC, representing the defendant, said he was remorseful and prayed regularly for Ali and his family.
He said: “He is not a man who is in any way proud of what happened. He’s really, really sorry about what happened.
“If he could turn back the clock, not for himself, but for the impact he had on others, he would.”
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Sentencing the pair, who sat in the dock wearing white unbuttoned shirts and dark trousers, flanked by four dock officers, Mr Justice Garnham said the knife had been pulled “for no apparent reason”.
He said: “You put in evidence that Ali’s words made you fear for your safety. The jury didn’t take that, and neither did I.
“They did nothing more than was reasonable in trying to get you to leave. There was no justification for pulling a knife on an unarmed young man who posed no risk to you.
A statement from Ali’s family, who were in court for the hearing, read by prosecutor Mark Heywood KC described the teenager as a budding engineer and said they would never get over his death.
They said: “Losing a child is devastating and life-ending, but the fact that someone took their life in such a horrific and brutal way will always haunt us.”