Teen killed in crash was not target, jury told

A teenage pedestrian was "in the wrong place at the wrong time" when he was struck and killed by car in Sheffield, a jury has been told.

Abdullah Yaser Abdullah Taleb, 16, previously named by police as Abdullah Yaser Abdullah Al Yazidi, died after he was hit by an Audi on Staniforth Road in the Darnall area of Sheffield on 4 June last year.

Opening the murder trial of Zulkernain Ahmed, 20, Armaan Ahmed, 26, and Adam Mohammed, 30, at Sheffield Crown Court, Alistair MacDonald KC, prosecuting, told the jury that the car was used as a "weapon".

MacDonald said it had mounted the pavement as it was deliberately driven at a group of three riders - two on e-bikes and one on a moped.

One of the riders was hit and thrown over a hedge, causing him serious injuries, before the vehicle hit Abdullah, MacDonald said.

He told the court: "The car was coming from the opposite direction and the front offside, or right-hand side of the car, struck Abdullah, who was thrown into the air and sustained catastrophic injuries in the course of that collision, from which there was no hope of recovery.

"The target was not Abdullah, who happened, tragically, to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Instead, it was three lads who were on electric bikes - or two on electric bikes and one on a moped - and who had themselves been travelling on Staniforth Road in the same direction as Abdullah had been walking, but in the opposite direction to the car that struck Abdullah."

According to the prosecution, the car collided first with one of the riders, La'rome Divers, who had refused to make a statement to police.

MacDonald told the court CCTV footage showed "that this car was deliberately steered onto the wrong side of the road and into the path of the cyclists", even passing a pedestrian refuge on the wrong side of the road.

He said: "It is the prosecution case that, at no point, was any effort made to slow the vehicle down before the collisions took place."

MacDonald added the CCTV sound evidence was that the car engine was revved as it approached the riders.

The footage shown in court captured the incident from a number of angles.

The prosecutor said that Zulkernain Ahmed had been driving the car and his brother Armaan had been in the back, along with Mohammed.

Another Ahmed brother, Zain, was the front seat passenger but MacDonald said police had not be able to trace him.

MacDonald told the jury how Zulkernain and Armaan Ahmed had been arrested in Dover as they appeared to be trying to make their way to Turkey.

Mohammed stayed in Sheffield and was given a lift back to the scene of the collision, the prosecutor said, where he "appeared to watch paramedics" at work.

A police statement from Zulkernain, shared with the jury, said: "When I saw La'rome I just tried to side swipe him, scare him, but I lost control of the car.

"I did not intend to kill or seriously injure anyone - him or anyone.

"I feel absolutely terrible about what has happened."

MacDonald said the statement outlined how a dispute had developed between Zulkernain and Divers over bikes, with the defendant saying: "He told me he was going to shoot me in the face and made all kinds of threats towards my family, all because he was defending the people who stole my bike."

MacDonald said the prosecution case was that Zulkernain "went out looking for Divers" and took a baseball bat with him.

Armaan told police he had gone out with his brother for a meeting about a bike and he was there to "make sure he was safe", the jury heard.

Mohammed told police his "sole purpose" for getting in the car was to "smoke a spliff and then to go play snooker", MacDonald said.

Zulkernain and Armaan Ahmed, both of Locke Drive, Darnall, and Mohammed, of Acres Hill Road, Darnall, all deny murdering Abdullah and attempting to murder each of the three riders.

The court heard two of these riders have not been identified by police.

The defendants also deny alternative charges of causing grievous bodily harm with intent and attempted grievous bodily harm with intent.

Zulkernain Ahmed has admitted the manslaughter of Abdullah and one charge of causing grievous bodily harm, the jury was told.

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