The mother of a Manchester soldier stabbed to death in Cyprus broke down in tears at an inquest as the killer’s friends refused to answer key questions over her son’s death.
Lisa Minott’s son, Fusilier David Collins, 18, was fatally knifed in the heart with a switchblade as he tried settling a dispute in a nightclub in the resort of Ayia Napa.
He died later from his wounds, unaware that his young girlfriend Aimee Williams, 17, was pregnant with his second child, delivering a healthy girl five months after his death.
David’s killer Mohamed Abdulkadir Osman, 20, originally from Somalia but living in London, was later jailed for eight years for manslaughter after claiming he was ‘provoked’ and ‘lost self-control’.
Two of Osman’s friends Umar Anwar and Tukki Abbas Shah, both 18, were initially accused of murder offences but were later freed, even though eleven switchblades and two knuckle dusters were found in the hotel room they were all were sharing.
The British pair were escorted by police to an inquest in Stockport, Greater Manchester yesterday, in front of a tearful Mrs Minott, 38, where they maintained her son had started an argument by asking the three men ‘are you bad men?’
They claimed the statement was British slang for wanting a fight, but they refused to answer a number of questions after advice from a coroner who reminded the pair they did not have to say anything which could be incriminating.
Afterward Mrs Minott said: “We are disappointed that Anwar and Shah who were involved in the incident which led to David’s killing decided to rely on their right not to answer some of the questions which were potentially self-incriminatory rather than give the inquest a full and true account of what happened.
”This has left us with unanswered questions, in particular about the motives for this senseless killing.
“We know that nothing can bring David back. Our primary concerns throughout the process therefore has been that nothing like this ever happens again.”
The tragedy occurred in November 2012 when David, who was based at a British Army base at Dhekelia, travelled to Ayia Napa to go clubbing with army colleagues as a final celebration before flying to Afghanistan the following day.
While in the Black & White Club, friends from the 2nd Battalion Royal Regiment of Fusiliers saw David, of Chorlton, Manchester, mopping blood from his face after he said he was punched.
David approached Osman and his two friends and a scuffle broke out. Fusilier James Sullivan and another soldier, Fusilier Jordan Ramsbottom, attempted to diffuse the situation but David was thrown out by security.
While outside, Mr Ramsbottom noticed that David’s t-shirt was covered in blood and he had a one inch stab wound close to his heart. He collapsed at the scene and was pronounced dead by paramedics who attended.
Mr Ramsbottom told the hearing: “I saw David and he was dancing but he was holding his face because it was bleeding. I went to the bar to ask for tissues. Someone had punched him and I asked who and he said he didn’t know but was going to find the guy and ask.
“He said it happened on the dancefloor. He walked across and I saw him speaking to a dark-skinned man and we followed towards where he was. While they were talking two other guys approached and started shouting at David and attacked him.
“Three of them surrounded him and jumped on him at once. We tried to break it up and the security took David outside. I followed him outside and he asked me whose blood was on his clothes. He had a lot of blood on his t-shirt and it was sticking to his chest.
He continued: “Something was not right. I checked under his t-shirt and could see a hole in his chest one inch wide. I could see his muscle through the hole. I picked his t-shirt up to have a better look and could see muscle and tissue.
“I started to shout at people to get an ambulance. David tried to walk and talk but he couldn’t. He was dizzy.
“We just wanted to enjoy our night because it could be our last for a long time.”
Speaking in a quiet mumble, Anwar said: “I was on the dancefloor having a chat and a cigarette – I had no problems with anyone.
“A white stocky male approached me and tapped me on the shoulder and asked me if I ‘was bad’ and repeated it and I could see him clenching his fists so I pushed him away then he punched me in my face and I fell to the floor.”
Anway rejected allegations he knew Shah had picked something up, believed to be the knife, from the back of a quad bike they had used to travel. He also refused to answer questions on whether he knew the knuckle dusters and knives were in the hotel room.
Shah said David approached him and a quick discussion followed before Anwar was punched in the face and a fight broke out. But he could not recall anything after the event until he went outside the club and saw revellers stood around David.
In a statement Osman said: “A huge guy and two more men approached me and said they were from Manchester and started fighting with us.
“They began punching us on the dancefloor. I tried to defend myself and hit him back.
Because of that I pulled a knife from my pocket and put it to his face. He wasn’t scared and jumped towards me to attack me.
”That was the moment the knife stabbed his chest. ‘That was when I realised what happened and the security came and pulled him out. I saw him on the floor injured.”
Osman later retracted the statement and claimed he was in fact stabbed in the hand. However he pleaded guilty to manslaughter before trial and a murder charge was dropped.
Reaching a conclusion of unlawful killing, South Manchester coroner John Pollard said: ”There was an altercation that led to what I feel can only be described as an unprovoked punch to David Collins’ face.
“I think it’s fair to say that David wanted to sort it out and find out why he had been hit.
”He went over to the three men and I suspect started talking to them and it is my view his colleagues were ready to assist him. There is a further scuffle and there is no doubt in my mind that Osman stabbed him with this knife he had in his possession.”
At Osman’s sentencing hearing in Lanarca it was claimed Osman had bought two brass knuckles and 11 switchblades as ‘souvenirs’ to take back home and give to friends.
Image courtesy of British Forces News, via YouTube.
