20 years for plastic gangster who murdered friend over FIFA row

A self-styled ‘gangster’ who stabbed his friend to death after he laughed at him for losing a FIFA computer game was jailed for a minimum of least 20 years.

Azeem Issa, 22, fell out with Sahil Roy, 28, after playing the popular computer game but they made up and smoked a cannabis joint together.

But the pair then traded insults about each other’s mothers – prompting Issa to stab Mr Roy in the neck with a flick knife.

Mr Roy managed to stumble to a nearby car park on the Ivybridge Estate, Isleworth, but died just a few minutes later on April 10 this year.

His mother, who lived in a nearby flat, managed to reach him in time and he died in her arms.

Issa denied murder, claiming he had acted in self-defence, but was convicted after a trial at the Old Bailey.

Jailing him for life with a minimum term of 20 years, Judge Johannah Cutts QC blamed the murder on Issa’s quick temper and his habit of always carrying a knife.

‘It was something as trivial and senseless as this that caused you to lose your temper, to take the knife from your belt, to flick it open and attack him.’

‘You send in your evidence that Mr Roy brought the knife to the scene. This was you knife and I’m satisfied it’s the knife you habitually carried.

‘This incident is a clear example of why the law takes such a serious view of carrying a knife in public places.

‘If you carry a knife a knife and lose your temper it’s a small step to using it with devastating results.’

She continued: ‘No parent should see her child die before her, no parent should have her son taken from her in such a way and no parent should have to see what Mr Roy’s mother witnessed that day and have to live with it.

‘You’ve sought to malign his character – you have shown no remorse.

‘There’s no doubt you took the knife to the scene and used it to commit murder, but I’m not of the view you did so intending to commit murder.’

Issa has two previous convictions for possessing a knife in public, and another for holding a 7″ knife to a woman’s throat.

Judge Cutts said: ‘It shows you are quick to temper – your readiness to carry a knife together with being quick to temper led to the death of Sahil Roy.’

Mr Roy was engaged to be married and was due to have a suit fitting the week after his death.

In a statement read to the court, Mr Roy’s mother Nasira Manandhar said: ‘He was an extremely caring son and he always put others before himself.

‘Our home is on the third floor with no lift and he would always help elderly people with their shopping bags and he would never forget to say hello.’

‘His tragic and untimely death has created an enormous hole in all our lives and it’s an unbelievable loss to all our family and friends.’

She said Mr Roy loved playing video games but he had been looking forward to travelling with his fiancé Fareha after their marriage.

Earlier prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones said: ‘The prosecution say that this was a senseless and sad loss of a young life that resulted from something that is perhaps becoming increasingly more common – drugs and knives.’

Issa called himself a ‘gangster’ and used the name ‘Ricardo Hoods Montana’ on Facebook, the court heard.

He was known on the Ivybridge Estate to have a ‘bit of a temper’ and to carry a knife, jurors were told.

The prosecutor said a couple of days before the fatal stabbing the group had gone around to Issa’s home to play computer games on his Xbox.

‘While at Ricardo’s, Sahil made a spliff and Ricardo kept trying to get it off him,’ she said.

‘There was some disagreement about what game they played – FIFA or UFC.

‘Ricardo was complaining he could not play the game he wanted.

‘They played the game but at one stage Ricardo became agitated as he was losing and being wound up about it.’

On the day of the murder Issa had rung Mr Roy 22 times in the space of just two hours in the hope of getting him to share his cannabis.

He turned up twice at his family home, and shouted at Mr Roy’s mother when she told him her son wasn’t at home.

When Mr Roy finally agreed to meet with Issa, their other friends remembered seeing Issa with a knife but said they ‘thought nothing of it’ at the time.

One remembered Issa acting like a ‘cannabis fiend’ trying to get the cannabis grinder off Mr Roy and seeing the pair began pushing each other.

He said the pushing and shoving lasted for a few minutes before Issa pulled out the knife.

Issa claimed he had acted in self-defence when Mr Roy tried to throttle him for insulting his mum.

He said he had stabbed Mr Roy with the victim’s own knife.

‘Sahil was normally a bubbly person, but that day I could see a slight change in his behaviour – he had a strop on. I got that from his facial expression.

‘We had a conversation about the cannabis he was grinding – I asked him if I could smoke the weed he was grinding.

‘In response to that he opened the grinder and let me sniff what was inside it – he held it out for me to sniff.

‘He said “That’s what your mum’s p*ssy smells like”.’

‘There was another comment that he made – “Your mum needs to come check in on me”.’

‘So I said “Your mum’s like a petrol pump, she likes to give it to everybody” – only because of what he said I decided to hit back.’

The victim lunged at his throat with both hands in response to the insult, Issa said.

‘I never saw him behave like that before. I was scared.’

‘I got hold of his wrists and tried to push him off – the others, none of them were coming to my aid. No one was trying to help.’

Issa claimed he grabbed for the knife at Mr Roy’s waistband and lashed out in an effort to get him off to get him to let go of his throat.’

He said he was in ‘complete shock’ when he learned his friend had bled to death.

Issa, of Haweswater House, Ivybridge Estate, Isleworth, was convicted of murder and jailed for a minimum term of 20 years.

ENDS