A man accused of murder following the fatal stabbing of a 19-year-old man in Bradford last summer has told a jury how he thought he was going to be killed when confronted by a man holding a knife.
The trial at Bradford Crown Court heard that the man armed with the knife was Junaid Khan who, just moments later, would be stabbed in the heart by Mohammed Ibrahim Mehmood.
Mr Khan was killed in West Bowling on June 6 last year, three days after a separate incident between him, Mehmood, and Mehmood’s friend Mohammed Tayyub resulting from a dispute over a car sale.
Police in the West Bowling area after the fatal incident (Image: Newsquest)
Mehmood, 18, Luqmaan Rehman, 28, and his brother Hamza Rehman, 27, are charged with murder.
Giving evidence on Tuesday, Luqmaan Rehman described to defence barrister Dapinder Singh KC how Junaid Khan arrived at Mehmood’s father’s shop on June 6 with others in two cars.
They demanded to speak with Mohammed Ibrahim Mehmood and were aggressive and making threats.
The confrontation, which Luqmaan Rehman described as “mayhem”, spilled out into the street where slaps were exchanged.
Mohammed Junaid Khan (Image: West Yorkshire Police)
Rehman described one of the group “acting like a wild animal” and swearing in English and Urdu whilst the others were “almost circling” as if to surround Rehman, his brothers, and Mehmood.
Rehman said he “pre-emptively” hit one man with an open palm as he approached him with clenched fists as he thought he was about to be attacked.
He told the court: “I was petrified at that point.”
Police investigating after the death of Junaid Khan (Image: Newsquest)
He described himself as being “confused” as he didn’t know why the group was there or why he and his family were receiving aggressive threats from the group, who were screaming and shouting.
He said the incident was “fast-moving” and that “everything was just 100 miles per hour”.
He said he and his brother Hamza Rehman were trying to de-escalate the situation by talking the aggressors down and added: “I wouldn’t wish that on my own worst enemy. It was very scary.”
The incident did escalate and Rehman described being surrounded by two groups of Mr Khan’s associates.
The Air ambulance landed on a nearby cricket field but was not used (Image: Newsquest)
Much of the eventual chaotic mass disorder was captured on CCTV, which was played to the jury.
Rehman said one man, by now armed with a baseball bat, screamed that he was going to go to Rehman’s home and smash it up.
Rehman told the jury that the man said: “I’m going to deal with everyone in the house.”
He added: “The people who came to the shop were bent on violence.
“This family… these people have a history with violence. These are violent people.”
Police on the streets of West Bowling and staff from the air ambulance (Image: T&A)
As the violence erupted Rehman said he saw Junaid Khan carrying a knife and two other males armed with a machete and a bat.
He said he and his brothers were trying to get away from the scene on Bowling Old Lane and to reach their home but were chased down the street.
He described Junaid Khan holding a knife in his hand behind his back but that as he got closer “that’s when he pulled it out”.
He added: “I was really scared. At the time he was saying, ‘Come here, you mother****ers.’ He was chasing after us with the knife. At one point he [Junaid] got a couple of feet away from me.
“He had a very angry look in his eyes, and the weapon was very big and very scary.
“I thought he was going to kill me at that point.”
He added: “I was running for my life.”
He said he managed to outrun Junaid Khan, who then changed direction to run after Rehman’s younger brother, who he stabbed in the arm.
Luqmaan Rehman said: “Seeing him being stabbed and not being able to do anything about it … is a devastating feeling.
“I screamed his name, but that is all I could do. I couldn’t get there in time. I couldn’t stop it physically.
“From the way he was holding the knife I thought he [Junaid] was aiming for my brother’s neck.
“The only reason I believe he didn’t get his neck is because he’s physically not big enough. He was only small in height and [my brother] is six foot.
“The only reason he didn’t get his neck is because he couldn’t reach it.”
Mehmood, of Woodroyd Road, West Bowling, Bradford, Luqmaan Rehman, and Hamza Rehman, both of Birch Lane, Bradford, all deny murder.
Mehmood also denies attempted murder and possessing a knife on June 6, and assault occasioning actual bodily harm (ABH) on June 3.
Tayyub, 18, of Newton Street, Bradford, denies ABH on June 3. He was not present on the day of the fatal stabbing.
The trial continues.