Abdulwahab Hafidah: 11 gang members found guilty of chasing down and killing 18-year-old in Manchester
'Help me, they’re going to kill me,' victim called to passer-by before being cornered
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Eleven members of gang who hunted down and killed a teenager in Manchester have been found guilty of carrying out the "vicious" attack.
Defendants aged between 15 and 21 chased Abdulwahab Hafidah for more than five miles along busy roads in the evening rush hour on 12 May last year.
The 18-year-old told a passer-by “help me, they’re going to kill me” moments before he was cornered, Manchester Crown Court heard.
The pursuit started after Mr Hafidah strayed into a rival gang’s “territory”, with 10 of the defendants starting to chase him from Princess Parkway towards Moss Lane East, attacking him with a hammer.
CCTV footage released by Greater Manchester Police showed cars swerving to avoid the pack at a busy junction as Mr Hafidah fled his pursuers on foot and bicycles through traffic.
A clip filmed nearby showed the chase continuing as attackers armed with knives and hammers repeatedly circled around their victim.
“After a considerable chase where Abdul was clearly exhausted, he was finally incapacitated after [Nathanial Jermaine] Williams drove his Vauxhall Corsa at him, knocking him to the ground,” a spokesperson for Greater Manchester Police said.
“Once on the floor, Abdul was viciously attacked by the group with punches, kicks and stamps.
“The group then ran away in the direction of Quinney Crescent where the Corsa was waiting.”
Members of the public ran to help the teenager and called an ambulance but he died of his injuries in hospital two days later.
A post-mortem carried out by the Home Office found that he died from two stab wounds to the neck and also suffered head injuries.
Devonte Cantrill, 20, of no fixed address, Delroy Wright, 18, of no fixed address, Durrell Ford, 20, of Darncombe Close in Moss Side and Williams, 19 of Hebburn Walk in Rusholme were found guilty of murder, while Devonte Neish, 20, of Nell Lane in Manchester, William George, 21, of Cowesby Street in Moss Side, and an unnamed 15-year-old boy were convicted of manslaughter at Manchester Crown Court last month.
After a separate trial at Preston Crown Court, Reanu Walters, 19, of Greame Street in Moss Side, Trey Wilson, 19, of Oakfield Avenue in Whalley Range and Durrell Goodall, 20, of Kings Road in Ashton-under-Lyne were found guilty of murder and Remekell Samuels, 19, of Caythorpe Street in Moss Side pleaded guilty to manslaughter on Tuesday. They will all be sentenced in September.
Mr Hafidah’s family thanked the members of the public and emergency services who tried to save the teenager’s life and the investigators who ensured his killers are “made to account for their actions”.
His parents were on holiday when he was murdered, with his last message to them sent that morning reading: “Mum and dad, I love you.”
“Abdulwahab was a loving son, brother and uncle,” said a statement from the family.
“He was selfless, putting everyone before himself. He cherished the good times he spent with his family and friends and was always smiling and laughing.”
Detective Chief Inspector Terry Crompton read out the statement at a press conference attended by his father and mother, who broke down into tears.
“He was hunted down, attacked and ripped away from our lives forever in a senseless act of brutality and we as a family are totally devastated by his loss,” the statement said..
“We are consumed by the sadness and emptiness we feel knowing we will never see him again but we will never forget him.”
Mr Hafidah’s family said they “do not hate those involved” with his murder, saying that while taking his life they ruined their own.
Relatives writing on a memorial page dedicated to the teenager welcomed the verdicts but added: “This is justice but it will never be full justice because we will never see our beloved boy again.
“May all those convicted suffer the same suffering they caused my family.”
Mr Hafidah was friends with Salman Abedi, who was also of Libyan descent and would go on to massacre 22 people in an Isis-inspired suicide bombing at Manchester Arena in May.
Former acquaintances said Abedi had links with gangs before becoming radicalised, and his sister Jomana Abedi told the Wall Street Journal he was devastated by Mr Hafidah’s death.
His Facebook page shows he was “friends” with Abedi’s younger brother Hashim.
Lucy Powell, the Labour MP for Manchester Central, said his life was taken in “tragic and horrific circumstances”.
“I think that there are a lot of lessons to be learned about how we arrived at this dreadful situation,” she added.
“It is important that the community takes time to reflect in the immediate aftermath of these convictions and that lessons are learned about how to prevent tragedies like this from occurring again.”
Ms Powell said there were “no winners” with knife crime, adding: “Abdul’s family have lost their child and now the parents of those convicted of murder have also lost theirs.”
The MP said the case caused her to raise the use of joint enterprise laws, allowing multiple defendants to be convicted of a killing regardless of who struck the fatal blow because of their intent, over whether it was “proportionate”.
Detective Chief Inspector Terry Crompton, from Greater Manchester Police, said the murder as a “tragedy for everyone involved”.
“Moss Side is a supportive and close-knit community; incidents like this do not represent the majority of the community,” he added.
“I hope that today’s convictions show that with violence and knife crime there are no winners, and we need to stand together as a community to ensure incidents like this one don’t happen ever again.”
Alan Richardson, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said the “vicious and sustained attack” left Mr Hafidah completely outnumbered with no possibility of defending himself.
“The defendants chased him as a pack, cornered him and then subjected him to an extremely violent assault,” he added.
“The evidence presented in court by the CPS included many hours of CCTV, over 20 eyewitness accounts and compelling DNA evidence.
“We were able to prove to the jury that these defendants were jointly involved in the violence that led to Abdulwahab Hafidah’s death."