A delivery worker pleaded ‘don’t kill me’ as a knife-wielding robber stabbed him in the heart o bag, a court heard.
Mahamed Mahamad, 37, allegedly slashed at DPD worker Aqeef Ali at least 29 times, puncturing his heart and lacerating his cheek on Gibson Road, Handsworth in Birmingham, just after 3am on July 26 last year.
Mr Ali managed to survive the attack after life-saving surgery.
Prosecutor Andrew Wallace, opening the case yesterday, said: ‘This wasn’t just a robbery gone wrong.
‘It was a savage attack that scaled up in malevolence when he didn’t do what he wanted.’
Mr Ali had left his shift at the DPD depot in Smethwick at 2.30am and was dropped off in Handsworth.
However, Mr Wallace said that ‘unfortunately, he wasn’t dropped right outside his address’.
The prosecutor continued: ‘He was dropped off in Handsworth and walked the last part of the journey home.
‘On the course of making that journey home, he was brutally attacked by the defendant.’
Mahamed Mahamad, 37, allegedly slashed at DPD worker Aqeef Ali 29 times with a huge serrated knife here on Gibson Road, Handsworth in Birmingham (pictured: the scene in the hours after the attack)
Mahamad is currently facing trial at Birmingham Crown Court but denies charges of attempted murder and an alternative of wounding with intent (stock photo)
At the same time, Mahamad had also been dropped off by a taxi in the Handsworth area and likely pursued Mr Ali after seeing he had his phone out, the prosecutor told the jury.
Mr Ali was ‘aware’ and ‘nervous’ of being followed by Mahamad before he stopped outside of a house with a CCTV camera, the Birmingham Crown Court heard.
Mr Wallace told the court: ‘The defendant started shouting, asking where Mr Ali’s phone was and what was in his bag that he was carrying.
‘There followed a struggle and Mr Ali held on to the bag for dear life, literally.
‘The defendant punched him to his head, kicked him and pulled out a large knife.’
The knife had a serrated edge on its long blade, a ‘serious weapon’ the lawyer said, but it has not been recovered.
Mr Ali’s resistance made Mahamad ‘more aggressive’, Mr Wallace added, and two neighbours came out, hearing the brawl.
One decided to intervene, saving Mr Ali from ‘even greater harm’.
The prosecutor told the court: ‘He saw the repeated stabbing of Mr Ali, who looked like he was fighting for his life, shouting ‘don’t kill me’.’
At one point, Mahamad was alleged to have said ‘do you want to die tonight?’
Mr Ali was stabbed in the heart and was slashed in the cheek, requiring life-saving surgery after the ‘ferocious attack’.
Mr Wallace went on: ‘This was not a mere struggle over a bag, this had gone a lot further than that.
‘This was “I’m going to kill you because you didn’t give it to me.”
‘There were 29 thrusts with that knife. Not all of them have been as dangerous as that one, that wound to the heart.
‘Ask yourself, what are you intending when you thrust a big knife at someone’s body that many times?’
The jury was shown the CCTV video of the attack.
Mahamad, of Browns Green, denies charges of attempted murder and an alternative of wounding with intent.
He answered no comment after being arrested by police, the court heard.
Mr Wallace spoke on his alternative of wounding with his intent charge, saying: ‘The defendant denies even this was what he intended.
‘It goes with the territory when you are a robber. It was bad luck he got injured while he was intending to rob him.’
‘That’s what the defendant was saying.’
The trial continues.
