Girl cried 'Stop, you're killing him!' as gang of six beat and kicked student in racist attack, court hears
Kuridsh-Iranian Reker Ahmed, 17, punched and stamped on during 'savage' assault in Croydon
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A friend of a teenager battered in the street after being racially abused heard someone beg for the attack to stop for fear he would be beaten to death, a court has heard.
Kurdish-Iranian Reker Ahmed yelled as he was kicked and stamped on and a female nearby pleaded “Stop, you are killing him”, the trial of six people charged in relation to the assault was told.
The 17-year-old student was left with a bleed on the brain and a fractured spine following the attack after he and his friends were told to “go back to your country”, Croydon Crown Court has heard.
He was beaten “savagely” in the late-night fight in the south London borough, his friend, Hamo Mustafa, said.
He had earlier told the court that one of the group said: “You are asylum seekers, you are refugees, you have to go back to your country” after they said they were from Iraq and Iran.
Giving evidence for a second day, the 18-year-old told the court an initial fight had started up again when cars arrived and more people joined in the altercation near the Goat pub.
Speaking through an interpreter from behind a screen shielding him from the dock where five men and one woman sat accused of violent disorder, Mr Mustafa said: “They treated him (Mr Ahmed) very savagely, like savage people treated him. I thought they were animals coming to us.”
He added: “I didn't see much but what I saw he (Mr Ahmed) was on the floor under their feet and he was beaten by them.”
The victim was subjected to two assaults over the course of 16 minutes, shortly before midnight on March 31.
George Walder, 23, Lliam Neylon, 19, Daryl Davis, 21, his sister Danyelle Davis, 24, and 23-year-old Kyran Evans are each charged with two counts of violent disorder.
Kurt Killick, 18, faces a third charge of grievous bodily harm with intent, accused of stamping on Mr Ahmed.
Asked by prosecutor Jonathan Polnay what had happened in the street by the roundabout, Mr Mustafa said he and his friends were terrified when three cars pulled up.
He said: “When we saw them parked in the middle of the roundabout we were terrified so we ran away.”
The group then “caught up” with Mr Ahmed, Mr Mustafa said, as he told how he and a third friend, Dilshad Mohammed, ran and hid.
He said: “Because we feared for our lives we went to a side road and we hid ourselves in a house.”
He clarified that they hid in a garden, from where Mr Mohammed made a 999 call.
Asked if he heard anything from the garden before the police came, he said: “Yes, because we were not that far from that scene where the incident happened.
“I could hear that a female said 'Stop, you are killing him. Stop doing it, you are killing him'.”
Asked if he could hear Mr Ahmed, he said: “Initially I could hear his voice. He was yelling. After that I couldn't hear from him.”
Mr Ahmed was stamped on during this second assault, the prosecution has said, in what is described as a “disgraceful episode of violence and thuggery”.
Mr Mustafa initially told the court he believed Mr Ahmed was the victim of the first punch during the incident, but accepted that CCTV footage showed that he himself was in fact on the receiving end of the blow.
Laurie-Anne Power, defence counsel for Walder, said: “Is it true that you lied to the police officer about the person punching you racially abusing you?”
Mr Mustafa replied: “Please do not use the word lie.”
Ms Power suggested the person who threw the punch had said: “What's your problem?” but the witness said he did not remember that being said.
In an emotional outburst Mr Mustafa, speaking in English, said his life had been “f* up” by the incident, complaining that he can no longer live in Croydon, where he had been for a year since coming to the UK.
Walder, of Myrtle Road, Neylon, of Ferris Avenue, the Davis siblings, both of Laurel Crescent, Killick, of Courtwood Lane, and Evans, of Shrublands Avenue, all Croydon, deny the charges.
PA