Murdered student Abdul Osman started the fight whi

Murdered student Abdul Osman started the fight which led to his death, it was claimed at the Old Bailey today.

(mon)

At the trial of five youths in connection with his death, it was claimed he pursued the group with his brother Mustapha and cousins Abdi Hassan and Mohammed Abdullahi.

‘They were patrolling the area looking for them.

They wanted to teach them a lesson for insulting their family,’ said Joel Bennathan as he cross-examined Mr Hassan.

Mr Bennathan, defending Bodrul Miah, 20, who allegedly dealt Abdul Osman the fatal blow, suggested Mr Hassan lied both in his statements to the police and in evidence before the jury.

‘What really happened is this.

Your group approached this group and Mustafa Osman said: ‘We have come here to teach you a lesson, you have been troubling my cousin.

‘

‘He made threats and the small Asian boy [Miah] was gassed in the face, punched, kicked and stabbed in the bottom.

‘You travelled to Southgate college that day with the sole aim of finding these boys and sorting out Mohammed Abdullahi’s troubles.

‘

He suggested Abdul Osman had been in court on September 8 relating to a fight he had been involved in.

The court has heard how a trivial argument between Abdullahi and Avanash Aubeelack four days earlier at college was the start of the whole incident.

Mr Hassan, who shared a house with Abdul Osman and Mohammed Abdullahi in Edmonton, admitted making mistakes in his first statement taken hours after his cousin’s death.

He also said he had no explanation for how Bodrul Miah received a stab wound in his backside and believed Abdul Osman had sprayed a perfume bottle and not CS gas.

‘None of us were carrying any weapons.

We weren’t armed.

‘

Mr Hassan picked out Mohammed Mollany, Ryan Reid and Avanash Aubeelack in police identification parades as three of the gang involved in the fight on September 13, 1999.

He said: ‘They all acted as a group sharing the same ideology.

What aim they shared, I do not know but they achieved first degree murder.

‘

It is claimed Bodrul Miah fatally wounded Abdul using a blade handed to him in a Snickers wrapper by Ryan Reid, 19.

Both deny murder.

Miah, of Ascot Road, Ryan Reid of Appleby Close, Marcus Oranu, 18, of Appleby Close, Mohammed Mollany, 19, of Forest Gardens and Avanash Aubeelack, 20, of Gladesmore Road, all Tottenham, deny violent disorder and affray.

Miah and Aubeelack also deny the attempted wounding of Mustafa Osman.

Bodrul’s dad Basharath, 46, of Ascot Road, denies perverting the course of justice by arranging a false passport and a one-way ticket to Bangladesh for his son.

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