- Thursday, April 25, 2024
By: Keerthi Mohan
AN ASIAN father-of-four died after his ears were cut off in a violent family feud, a court heard on Tuesday (25).
Sajed Choudry, 43, died from head injuries that he sustained following an alleged altercation between the warring Ali and Choudry families.
A jury was told that a group armed with baseball bat, machete and plank met in a residential street before a fight broke out.
There had been issues between the two families for several months. It came a head on November 24 after Sadaqat Ali, 36, hit Choudry’s son, Ahsan, 24, over the head with a bar in the street. Sadaqat was later arrested.
And another son of Choudry, Mohsan, 20, was arrested after he slashed Sadaqat’s tyres.
Taking the jury through CCTV footage that captured Choudry’s murder, Gordon Cole QC, prosecuting, said Sadaqat, his brother Rafaqat, 38, their father-in-law Fazal Ilahi, 62, another man, Syed Ali Akbar, 45, and a youth who cannot be identified for legal reasons, met up to fight Choudry and his son Ahsan on November 27.
Following a brawl, Choudry was hit with a machete and collapsed.
Cole said: “At one stage you will see a clear backhand swipe into the side of the head of Sajed Choudry which caused him to go to the floor. That was the last blow that Sajed Choudry received.”
The court heard that Saira Ali, 35, and Asma Ali, 34, the wives of Sadaqat and Rafaqat, were involved in switching off the CCTV system that covered Sadaqat’s home.
Sadaqat, Rafaqat, Ilahi, Akbar and the youth all deny murder and attempted murder.
Saira and Asma deny attempting to pervert the course of justice.
The trial, scheduled to last for eight weeks, continues.
