Crookes stabbing: 17-year-old boy with fatal stab wound dialled 999 to ask for help, jury told

A man has gone on trial accused of stabbing a 17-year-old to death, during an altercation in broad daylight in a Sheffield suburb.

Mohammed Iqbal, aged 17, was found seriously injured on the main road through Crookes on May 25, 2023, shortly after 7pm.

The 17-year-old was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead that evening. Police later revealed he died of a single stab wound.

30-year-old Peshawa Ghaffour, of Birkendale Road, Walkley, Sheffield, is accused of Mohammed's murder, a charge he denies.

During the opening of the trial today (Tuesday, November 14, 2023), prosecuting barrister, Ahmed Hossain KC, told the jury of four men and eight women that Mohammed suffered a wound to his chest that was 12.5cm deep, and managed to call the emergency services himself before collapsing.

Mr Hossain said it is the prosecution's case that the single stab wound suffered by Mohammed was 'was inflicted by Mr Ghaffour shortly before Mohammed collapsed'.

"The prosecution case is that Mr Ghaffour armed himself with a knife, intending to use it as he did so, to devastating effect," Mr Hossain continued.

"What we say, on behalf of the prosecution, is that the defendant was angry. He was armed, he was wanting, and intending, to cause serious injury; and he did so, resulting in the death of Mr Iqbal."

The court heard how Mr Ghaffour and Mohammed became involved in an altercation - all of which was captured on CCTV and shown to jurors - after Mr Ghaffour allegedly headbutted his friend's mother.

The jury were told that in the moments before the fatal stabbing, Mr Ghaffour had gone into the Indian Chef restaurant on the main road in Crookes; after arriving on the scene by car, and had 'headbutted' a woman with whom he had been in a relationship.

Mr Hossain said the woman worked at the restaurant, and the alleged headbutting took place there following an argument between the pair about their relationship, during which 'insults started to come from both towards each other'.

After the alleged headbutting, the woman told Mr Ghaffour that she planned to phone her son to tell him what had happened, and Mr Ghaffour went to the rear of the restaurant, Mr Hossain said.

Mr Hossain added: "When he went to the rear of the restaurant, he armed himself with a kitchen knife from the restaurant with a yellow handle...he got that knife and concealed it in his trousers, in the waistband of his trousers."

The jury were told that the woman subsequently called her son to inform him that she had been headbutted by Mr Ghaffour. At the time he received the phone call, her son was in the company of Mohammed and 'two female friends,' the court heard.

"[Her son] asked to be driven to the restaurant...as he, and his friend Mohammed Iqbal travelled to the restaurant, the defendant was in Sainsbury's, he came out of Sainsbury's and began walking in the direction of the Indian Chef where he had been having the argument. He was confronted by [the woman's son] and Mohammed Iqbal. We will say that fists were were swung at the defendant," Mr Hossain said.

It was during the course of this incident that Mohammed was fatally stabbed.

Mr Hossain said that while Mohammed was himself armed with a knife, which was stored in a sheaf, he did not produce it at any point; and that he, along with Mr Mendez simply 'swung their fists' during the course of the incident.

Mr Hossain continued by telling the jury that it will be for them to assess 'why Mr Ghaffour armed himself with a knife, and remained on the scene after he had argued' with his partner.

"Why he armed himself with a knife, and remained on the scene when he had headbutted her, and when she had told him she was calling her son...why he took a knife and secreted it in his trousers, why he did not simply leave the scene in the car he arrived in with his friend...as you look at the CCTV, you may ask why he was so quick to produce the knife."

Mr Hossain told the jury that following the deadly incident, Mr Ghaffour 'disposed' of the yellow-handled kitchen knife he had taken from the Indian Chef in an alleyway behind Domino's Pizza on the main road in Crookes, 'before leaving the scene in the car he had arrived in with his friend'.

Mohammed disposed of the knife he had been carrying in the driveway of a property on Mulehouse Road, before calling the emergency services and collapsing with his fatal stab wound.

In addition to Mohammed's murder, Mr Ghaffour is also accused of charges of possession of a bladed article, and assault by beating, all of which he denies.

The trial continues.