Nine convicted over violent clashes that led to man’s death

22 October 2018, 16:24 | Updated: 22 October 2018, 16:29

Nine people have been convicted at court for their part in a violent confrontation between two shisha lounge groups that left a man dead.

Trouble flared in Moseley Street, Highgate, at 3.30am on 17 December 2016 when a group of Asian and Somali men attacked each other with metal bars, sticks and knives.

The fight left 23-year-old Ibrahim Ismail – a Syrian national studying in Solihull and living in Birmingham – fatally wounded in the street having been stabbed in the chest and back.

The catalyst came 30 minutes earlier when Rebaz Kamal and his wife Shabana Bibi were driving home along Birchall Street after a night out at the Emperor shisha lounge.

Bibi encountered a group of Somalian men in the street near Raxo shisha lounge and, as she tried weaving through them, the 32-year-old claimed one approached the car shouting abuse before hitting Kamal through the open passenger window

They sped back to the Emperor lounge and minutes later a group of men emerged intent on revenge having armed themselves with sticks, poles and metal bars.

CCTV shows Kamal, aged 32 from Westminster Crescent, Handsworth, take a weapon from Bibi’s car – possibly a hockey stick or pool cue – and beckon his brother Shabaz Kamal plus Abderahman Chouiab, Awaas Aftab, Abdullah Alshameri, Andam Rasol, Tabean Abdullah and Ibrahim Ismail into Moseley Street.

The rival factions engaged for little more than a minute before separating – but as the crowd dispersed Ibrahim Ismail remained slumped in the street being comforted by 24-year-old Shabaz Kamal.

He was treated by paramedics but pronounced dead in an ambulance en route to hospital.

Alshameri (21) from Churchill Road, Handsworth, and 20-year-old Abdullah from Stoney Lane, Sparkbrook, were driven away by Bibi while others return to the Emperor lounge.

Club manager Adam Ijaz (25) from Burnham Road, Great Barr, deleted CCTV from the security system hard-drive and later told officers he couldn’t access the footage as he’d lost the password.

However, the footage was forensically recovered by West Midlands Police. It shows the group arming themselves before leaving the venue and Aftab (24) from Hobs Moat Road, Solihull, later re-enacting his actions in the fight.

The Kamals, Alshameri, Abdullah, Aftab, Chouiab (25) from Kitts Green Road and 24-year-old Rasol from Queens Head Road, Handsworth, all admitted violent disorder, while Ijaz admitted perverting the course of justice.

Rebaz Kamal, Aftab and Abdullah also admitted possessing offensive weapons.

#CONVICTED | Eight men and a woman have been convicted for their part in a violent clash between two shisha lounge groups that left one man dead in Birmingham. pic.twitter.com/DVTmkKLB8C

— West Midlands Police (@WMPolice) 22 October 2018

Bibi from Station Road, Witton, denied two counts of assisting an offender and violent disorder, arguing that she stayed in her Honda Accord throughout the violence.

However, a jury at Birmingham Crown Court concluded she had played an active part in the attack and found her guilty of violent disorder and two counts of assisting offenders.

And at the same court on Monday 22nd October ringleader Rebaz Kamal was jailed for two years for his role in instigating the trouble, while the eight other defendants all received suspended jail terms.

Shebaz Kamal, Chouiab, Aftab, Alshameri, Rasol and Ijaz were all given 18 month sentences suspended for 21 months and ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work.

Abdullah was handed the same suspended sentence, while Bibi was given a 20 month term also suspended for 21 months.