Friday, September 04, 2009

Non-racist racist murders ?

I noted this Bradford murder last year.

Police who were called to the incident in Gaythorne Road, West Bowling, yesterday found three men with stab wounds – three other people, including a woman, have now been arrested on suspicion of murder. The injured, a 17-year-old, 22-year-old and 24-year-old, all from Bradford were taken to Bradford Royal Infirmary. Surgeons battled to save the 22-year-old but he died shortly before 3am today... Initial reports from bystanders suggest there had been fighting for about 20 minutes between rival black and Asian gangs.
There's been a trial, verdict and sentence :

A teenager who murdered a man in a revenge attack has been branded a remorseless killer and locked up for at least 12 years. A judge yesterday told Guyan Guthrie, 18, he had shown no regret over the death of Rashid Elahi. “You are not in the least bit concerned about what happened,” Mr Justice Griffith Williams said. He ordered Guthrie, 17 at the time of the murder, to be detained at Her Majesty’s pleasure. He will not be able to apply for parole for 12 years.

Guthrie, of Canterbury Avenue, Bradford, was convicted by a jury at Bradford Crown Court on Monday of murdering Mr Elahi, 21, of Ryan Street, West Bowling, Bradford, on July 25 last year. He was also found guilty of wounding Tajambal Salim, of West Bowling, with intent to cause him grievous bodily harm. Anasta Decosta, 26, also of Canterbury Avenue, was jailed for 15 months for unlawfully wounding Shahid Iqbal. All three victims were attacked in daylight in Gaythorne Road, West Bowling. The judge said Guthrie and Decosta were armed with knives for a revenge mission after Guthrie was attacked near Newby School.

Just another knife murder - nothing to see here ...

Guthrie, looking for a lone Asian to attack, stabbed Mr Salim in the back, inflicting a life-threatening wound.

Guthrie then went for Mr Elahi, who was posing no threat. He stabbed him downwards with such force that the knife cut through two bones and went into his lung.

If that court report is correct, wasn't that a racist attack ?

Here's another knife murder :

Abdinasir Hassan, 21, from Southwark, started a fight in an internet cafe in June last year but he was overpowered by a group of Algerian men. He took revenge by fatally stabbing Algerian waiter Hamouda Bessaad, 34, in the back in Old Kent Road. Mr Bessaad was not involved in the earlier fight.

Mr Bessaad was walking home from work when Hassan ran up to him from behind and stabbed him in the back "with such force that the blade snapped off".

Was he stabbed for looking Algerian ?

"The defendant must have thought that he was one of that earlier group of Algerian men," Mr Denison said.

Ah yes. They all look the same, don't they ? Mr Denison is prosecuting, not defending. You'd rather hope the prosecution would like to find out what actually happened, instead of pasting his suppositions onto the defendant.



I don't know. I just get the feeling in both these cases that, had the perpetrator been white, we'd be reading about them for the next six months.