Imran Khan, 40, has gone on trial at Birmingham Crown Court accused of murdering Hozar Ali, 28, by stabbing him in the chest on Wood Green Road, Winson Green, shortly after 8.40pm on February 23 this year. The prosecution alleges the fatal attack followed a row about money that began inside a nearby woman's home.
Prosecution opens case with CCTV evidence
Prosecutor Edward Brown KC told the jury on Tuesday, August 18, that CCTV footage of the confrontation was played to the court. He said the knife used in the stabbing was never recovered but must have had a blade of at least 10cm, which was the approximate depth of the fatal wound. Mr Brown stated: "Hozar Ali, the deceased, was just 28 when he died. He was stabbed to the chest. He died from that stab wound. The knife used to penetrate the centre of Mr Ali's chest then into his lung, cut through an artery when it exited his lung. Despite all the efforts of the emergency medical team he couldn't be saved and died."
The court heard that the argument between the two men started in a woman's house nearby. Mr Brown said: "The argument continued out on to the street. The defendant with the knife. You will hear it was the defendant who was the aggressor. The deceased was reluctant to go outside into the street, reluctant to go outside at all. But it was there he was stabbed and killed."
Defendant accused of trying to blame innocent man
According to the prosecution, Khan fled the scene after the stabbing, walking down several streets before entering a shop and greeting someone. When arrested later that same night, the court was told he attempted to shift responsibility onto an innocent man named 'Khaled', who had no involvement in the incident. Mr Brown told the jury: "The defendant when he was arrested later the same night was to claim they had the wrong man. And another man he named as 'Khaled' was responsible. 'It was Khaled, please investigate Khaled, it was his fault.' That was a lie designed to deflect the police and lay the blame on an innocent man who lived nearby."
Khan, of Edward Road, Balsall Heath, stands trial denying murder and possessing a knife in public. The prosecution alleges that the argument began when Khan visited the woman's address on Wood Green Road, where Mr Ali sometimes stayed when he had nowhere else to go.
Victim was suffering from flu at time of attack
The prosecutor told the court that on February 23, Mr Ali had been sleeping in the front room while suffering from flu. Mr Brown said Khan also visited the address occasionally 'asking for sugar, cigarettes or even money'. He went on: "Later in the evening of the 23rd the defendant came again to her address to ask for a cigarette. He went into the living room where Hozar Ali was. He was lying on the sofa seeking to recover from flu. Quite soon the defendant began to ask Mr Ali about some apparent money he claimed Hozar Ali owed to him. This questioning became abusive, abusive to the deceased. Swearing at him, calling him 'dirty' and 'homeless'. He even started disrespecting Hozar Ali's mother, father and son."
Mr Brown told the court that initially Mr Ali tried not to engage because he was ill. The men ended up arguing outside before going back inside. The fatal confrontation took place around 50 minutes later when they left the home again and went back out onto the street a second time. The trial continues.
