Life term for knife-killer who stabbed fellow student after ‘petty’ row
A 17-year-old killer who used a Rambo-style combat knife to fracture his victim’s skull has been ordered to serve at least 14 years and three months.
College student Adam Muhammad plunged the weapon into the heart of Hazrat Umar during an unprovoked attack in February.
Hazrat, 18, was stabbed 15 times and then left for dead in Norwood Road, Bordesley Green, Birmingham, as his attacker fled to City Hospital, where he falsely claimed to have been robbed.
Ordering the teenager to be detained for life, a day after he admitted murder at the city’s Crown Court, Judge Francis Laird QC said the sustained and ferocious attack from behind had followed a minor “slight” said to be linked to a mobile phone.
Passing a mandatory sentence of detention at Her Majesty’s pleasure, the judge told Muhammad: “Hazrat Umar was only 18 years of age, with all his life ahead of him.
“That life was extinguished by you over a petty disagreement.
“Despite your guilty plea, entered mid-trial, you have shown little or no remorse for what you did.”
Despite the best effort of paramedics, nothing could be done to save Hazrat and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Minutes after the attack, Muhammad, of Hawkesyard Road, Erdington, approached a member of the public asking for water to wash the blood off his hands.
In a tribute issued through West Midlands Police, Hazrat’s family said: “Even though the crime was committed by someone else, it is us serving the life sentence without our son.
“Each day is torture and lonely. We are no longer living, just existing. We miss him so much.”
Opening the case to a jury before Muhammad changed his plea to guilty, prosecutor Miranda Moore QC said: “The type of knife in this case was described as like a Rambo-style knife.
“It was a big knife, a strong knife. It had a straight blade which was strong enough, when he hit the the victim’s head with it, it fractured his skull.”
The court was told the victim suffered a number of deep penetrating wounds, including an unsurvivable injury to the heart, in an attack which lasted 47 seconds.
Judge Laird lifted an order banning the media from reporting the defendant’s identity after Ms Moore submitted that naming him would deter others from similar offending.
Commenting on the inquiry, Detective Inspector Michelle Allen, from force CID, said the case showed the devastating effects of knife crime.
“This was a tragic case where a young man lost his life in the most brutal way and highlights the shocking reality of teenagers carrying knives,” the officer said.
