Peshawa Ghaffour: Face of Sheffield killer who wept when told of devastation caused to victim's family

The mother of a Sheffield teenager killed in a stabbing carried out on a busy city street has described the devastating moment she learned of his tragic, and untimely, death. 

Jurors at Sheffield Crown Court heard how during the final moments of his life, 17-year-old Mohammed Iqbal - known to his loved ones as Nasser - phoned the emergency services in a desperate attempt to ask for help, after being stabbed during an altercation on the main road through the Crookes suburb. 

A recording of the phone call is set to be used in training carried out across the country, in a bid to prevent more young lives from being taken through knife crime.    

Judge Peter Kelson KC said of the call: “He died screaming in pain, dying from a knife wound. This is another case in this country, in this city, of a needless death by a knife."

“Somehow we have, as a society, to get to grips with knife crime.”

Peshawa Ghaffour went on trial accused of Mohammed’s murder last week, after denying the offence, but jurors found him guilty of the lesser offence of manslaughter, following 14 hours and five minutes of deliberation. 

During Ghaffour’s sentencing hearing today (Friday, November 24, 2023), a statement from Mohammed’s mother was read to the court, as 30-year-old Ghaffour, the man responsible for his death, ‘wept’. 

In it, she said: “When I found out Nasser was no longer with us, I didn’t understand why he had died, why this had happened to us.”

“As a parent, I never expected my first-born son to die before me. It’s heartbreaking enough to find out about his death, however the circumstances of it have made me question why this has happened to him, and why this has happened to my family.”

“I live in sadness every day.”

She said Mohammed was her family’s ‘protector,’ and the man of the house after his father left, and was always cleaning, shopping and taking his sisters to school without complaint.

Jurors were told how in the moments before the fatal stabbing on May 25, 2023, Ghaffour had visited the Indian Chef restaurant in Crookes, and had been involved in an argument with one of its employees, a woman with whom he had been in a relationship. She subsequently phoned her son, and he soon arrived on the scene with Mohammed. 

Ghaffour was accused of assault in connection with the incident with the woman inside the Indian Chef, but jurors cleared him of the offence. 

Judge Kelson said of the events that followed: “You had an argument with [the woman], causing her to phone her son. You saw her making those phone calls, and because of your fear, you armed yourself with a knife taken from the restaurant where the argument took place.” 

“Instead of leaving in the vehicle you and your friend arrived in, you, having taken and concealed a knife, chose to remain in the area.”

Judge Kelson said it was also ‘significant’ that when Ghaffour’s friend told him to ‘go home’ after he learned of the woman's phone calls to her son, he responded by saying: "Let them come."

“It’s clear from the CCTV that Mohammed Iqbal and [his friend] set about you with their fists, throwing at least 10 punches towards you,” Judge Kelson said, adding that while Mohammed was also armed with a knife, he did not produce, or use, it at any point. 

Judge Kelson continued: “As soon as the first punch was thrown, you set about trying to produce the knife you had taken from the restaurant. Within moments of you doing so, Mohammed Iqbal, Nasser, received his fatal wound from that knife.” 

Judge Kelson said Ghaffour had been convicted of manslaughter on the basis that he was not acting in lawful self-defence, but he did not intend to cause really serious harm or death.  

After inflicting the fatal 12.5 cm deep stab wound upon Mohammed, Ghaffour disposed of the knife in the alleyway behind Domino’s pizza, while Mohammed tried to dispose of his hunting knife at a property on Mulehouse Road as he made the 999 call, the court heard.

During the course of the trial, Ghaffour, of Birkendale Road, Walkley, Sheffield, pleaded guilty to possession of a prohibited weapon, a taser, and possession of a bladed article in a private place, namely a flick knife.

Defending, Dapinder Singh KC said of the fatal incident: “The defendant was attacked in a fierce and dangerous way. There was a lack of premeditation by him, and he was the victim of a planned attack by two individuals, at least one of whom was armed with a dangerous weapon - a hunting knife.”

Mr Singh added: “He’s regretful, and has significant remorse, describing the incident as a tragedy.”

Judge Kelson said he accepted Ghaffour was remorseful, adding: “I saw you weeping today, as the victim impact statement was read out. There’s no doubt at all: you did not want Nasser dead, but Nasser is dead.”

He sentenced Ghaffour to seven years behind bars, and added: “No sentence I can pass can come anywhere near to affording any comfort to Nasser’s family.”

Speaking after Ghaffour was jailed, a South Yorkshire Police spokesperson said Jahmal Mendez, 18, of Myrtle Road, has been charged with affray in connection to the incident and is next due to appear at Sheffield Crown Court on December 4, 2023. He is currently on bail.