Sacad Ali: Mum's heartbreak over 'loving' son's murder as teen killers are named for first time
“He was brutally attacked, and left to die alone in a cold and dark park,” the heartbroken mother of a 24-year-old Sheffield man fatally stabbed earlier this year has said, as his three killers prepare to receive a life sentence.
In the early hours of March 9, 2024, Sacad Ali was knifed repeatedly by 17-year-old Jack Douglas and Barney Griffin, 18, after Rebecca Moore ‘lured’ him out to Ponderosa Park ‘under the promise of sexual favours’. All three defendants have been convicted of Mr Ali’s murder.
‘The worst nightmare of every parent’
In a moving statement read to Sheffield Crown Court this morning (Monday, November 25, 2024) Mr Ali’s mother, Hani, described the moment she was told of his death as the ‘worst nightmare of every parent’.
“Our lives at that moment changed forever. Our family has been left completely broken-hearted, and nothing can replace him,” Ms Ali said.
Ms Ali described her son as a ‘kind’ and ‘loving’ brother and son, and spoke of the continuing turmoil experienced by his siblings and other loved ones, as they struggle to come to terms with the prospect of a life without him.
Ms Ali described how ‘desolate’ she feels in knowing that she will never again get to hug her son, hear his ‘joyous laugh’ or have him there during family celebrations.
She described how, in the eight months since Mr Ali’s death, no-one in the family has felt able to enter his bedroom, knowing they will see his empty bed, surrounded by his possessions, just as he left them when he left his family home for the very last time.
Successful Sheffield Star application to name teen killer
The Sheffield Star and others made an application to lift the reporting restriction in place, which prior to today, meant it was not possible to name Douglas because he is still a juvenile at 17-years-old.
The Recorder of Sheffield, Judge Jeremy Richardson KC, today lifted the restriction, and noted there has been a shift ‘in this day and age’ towards naming defendants under 18 who are convicted of serious and grave crimes such as murder.
Both Douglas and Griffin - who turned 18 earlier this month, at which point the reporting restriction protecting his identity expired - pleaded guilty to Mr Ali’s murder, along with an additional charge of possessing an offensive weapon in a public place, at an earlier hearing held in May 2024.
Moore, 25, denied murder, and at the conclusion of her trial earlier this month (November 2024) jurors found her unanimously guilty of the offence following three hours and 19 minutes of deliberation. She was convicted on a joint enterprise basis, meaning she does not needed to have inflicted violence herself to be guilty of murder.
The offence of murder carries a mandatory life sentence.
Griffin and Douglas’ young age means they will serve theirs at His Majesty’s Pleasure, instead of formally being handed a life sentence.
‘Alright lads, now I’m hurt, leave it’
A post-mortem examination revealed Mr Ali sustained a number of stab wounds - including a number of defensive wounds to his hands and arms - and the fatal injury had been the stab wound to his thigh after his main artery and vein had been severed, the court heard.
Prosecutor Simon Kealey KC told the court that the motive for the attack related to drug dealing, and the belief that Mr Ali was dealing Class A drugs on the ‘turf’ or ‘patch’ all three defendants claimed ownership of through their involvement with the Frank drug line, which was in operation in Sheffield at the time of the killing.
Douglas and Griffin were known to be drug dealing around the time Mr Ali was killed, while Moore was dependent on both alcohol and crack cocaine, and earned money through sex work to fund her addictions, the court has previously been told.
Detailing the stabbing, Mr Kealey said Griffin, of Dixon Drive, Wharncliffe Side, Sheffield and Douglas, formerly of Brightholmlee Lane, Wharncliffe Side, Sheffield, were both armed with knives, most likely machetes, when they arrived at Ponderosa Park in the early hours of March 9.
Mr Ali was also armed with a blade, but quickly began to back away, with his weapon visible in front of him, after the fatal assault began.
Mr Kealey continued: “Sacad Ali was repeatedly stabbed…he backed away and appeared to be holding a weapon out in front of him…Griffin and Douglas pursued him.”
The court heard how residents living near to Ponderosa Park were awoken to the sound of Mr Ali’s screams, and those who witnessed the attack, said he could be heard to say “alright lads, now I’m hurt, leave it” and “leave it”.
Mr Kealey said it is the Crown’s case that Moore made contact with Mr Ali for the very first time that night, calling him and arranging to meet him at Ponderosa Park to buy drugs and with the ‘promise of sexual favours’.
“The prosecution case is that the purpose of those calls were simply to lure Mr Ali out, unsuspecting,” Mr Kealey told the court.
Mr Kealey described how as the fatal attack was taking place, Moore stood nearby, ‘as though she was watching events, before simply moving away’.
Defendants’ movements in minutes following the murder
In the moments following the attack, Griffin and Douglas returned to an address on Springvale Walk, close to Ponderosa Park, that the pair had previously used as a base from which to sell drugs.
Mr Kealey said witnesses present at the address observed both males returning in a panic, and Griffin was seen with gloves ‘dripping in blood’ and blood-spattered tracksuit bottoms.
Both Griffin and Douglas handed themselves into Shepcote Lane police station, admitting involvement with the stabbing, two days later, the court heard.
Moore, meanwhile, visited at the home of a fellow drug user, and as she pleaded to be let in from the cold, claimed she had ‘just had somebody killed’ on at least two occasions; before questioning if it was funny that she ‘didn’t feel anything’ and asking if there was something wrong with her.
Mr Kealey said Moore, formerly of Springvale Walk, Upperthorpe, Sheffield, was subsequently circulated as wanted and was arrested by police on March 13, despite her attempts to avoid detection with the use of a false name.
Moore was sent to HMP New Hall on remand, and a prison officer described how, when Moore was asked what she was in for, she replied: ‘Murder’ and said it was ‘her boys’ who stabbed the victim in the thigh ‘because he shouldn’t have been dealing on her turf’.
She also suggested she had got the boys ‘drunk,’ the court heard.
Mr Kealey said the Crown accepts that the defendants only intended to ‘inflict really serious harm’ - not to kill - and that Moore had played a secondary role in the killing.
Detailing the defendants’ criminal history, Mr Kealey said Moore has a record of 11 convictions for 20 offences, including entries for violence, while Douglas has a single youth caution for possession with intent to supply a controlled drug recorded against him.
Griffin had a completely clean criminal record when he committed the murder, the court heard.
Defendants’ mitigation
Defending Griffin, Nicholas Rhodes KC, referred Judge Richardson to a number of references prepared on his behalf by teachers and employers.
“You will see there is a different person behind the one that one sees and hears from in this case,” Mr Rhodes said, adding: “If only young people understood that you can’t just press the return key and someone comes back to life. Perhaps there would be less of this if you could.”
Mr Rhodes said Griffin had expressed, through a letter to the court and his pre-sentence report, his remorse - ‘not just for the death of this young man, but for the shame he has brought on his family, and Mr Ali’s family’. He said it was important to note that Griffin was 17-years-old at the time of the fatal incident.
He also pointed to Griffin’s decision to hand himself in, and to plead guilty at the earliest opportunity.
Richard Thyne KC, representing Douglas, said his client had also pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity, something he suggested was ‘rare’ in cases of this nature.
Mr Thyne said Douglas has a diagnosis of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
He added that while he does not seek to assert a direct link between it and Douglas’ involvement in the killing, it may have precipitated a propensity to becoming tied to a ‘lifestyle’ centred around drug dealing.
Mr Thyne said Douglas, aged 16 when he was involved in the killing, had previously been identified by authorities as ‘someone at risk of criminal exploitation by others’.
“Having committed this terrible offence, he has since done everything within his limited power to do everything that is right and proper…he said to the author of his pre-sentence report that no matter what sentence he receives, it will not make up for what he’s done. And he’s right about that,” continued Mr Thyne.
Defending Moore, Mathew Sherratt KC, referred to a psychological report prepared on Moore’s behalf which confirms she has been diagnosed with a number of conditions including ADHD, emotionally unstable personality disorder, and borderline personality disorder.
“It manifests itself with impulsive behaviour, self damaging behaviour and inappropriate outbursts,” Mr Sherratt said, adding: “It does reduce her culpability…because she has gone so long with these untreated conditions, which no doubt will have been contributing factors to her lifestyle. These conditions are not of her making and therefore do reduce her culpability.”
Mr Sherratt also told the court that Moore has been in the grips of an alcohol dependency since she was 14-years-old, the same age at which she first had contact with mental health services.
He acknowledged that the key issue for Judge Richardson to decide upon in Moore’s case is whether she had knowledge that her co-defendants Griffin and Douglas had brought knives to the scene, something if proven would increase the minimum term of her life sentence.
He conceded that the fact she did not leave upon seeing them produce the weapons would be regarded as an aggravating factor, but stressed there was no evidence - either from witnesses or from the CCTV which captured all three defendants walking to Ponderosa Park - that she was aware of them arming themselves.
Judge Richardson noted, however, that she would have been ‘aware there is a real risk of knives being involved,’ due to how common it is for individuals - particularly those of a younger age - who are involved with the drugs trade to arm themselves with a blade.
*Judge Richardson told the defendants he will pass sentence upon them from 10am on Thursday, November 28, 2024 and remanded them into custody until then.