Birmingham teenager hit and killed motorcyclist ‘boating’ to ‘teach a lesson’, court heard

A teenager hit and killed a ‘showboat’ motorcyclist to ‘teach a lesson’, a court heard. Liam Jones suffered fatal injuries after he was thrown from his e-bike and hit a concrete bollard on Moat Lane, Yardley, just before midnight on August 1 last year.

A jury was told it was “not an accident” and that Abdirahman Ibrahim had deliberately crashed into him in his SEAT Leon. It was alleged the then 19-year-old had followed Mr Jones from Coventry Road and may have ‘shadowed’ him in front of him by wheeling him in front of him.

Ibrahim, now 20 and of Bonham Grove, Yardley, admitted manslaughter but is on trial at Birmingham Crown Court, denying the charge of murder. His case is that the incident was caused by the race “gone very badly”.

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Opening the case, prosecutor Phil Bradley KC said Mr Jones, who lived in Alum Rock with his sister, rode his e-bike into Birmingham city center with his friend Tayzhon Johnson on the evening of August 1 last year.

At around 23.40 they decided to leave as the vehicle load was low. Mr Bradley said they returned along Coventry Road and passed the defendant’s SEAT Leon, which was white with tinted windows, traveling in the opposite direction. CCTV footage captured Ibrahim returning to the ASDA roundabout in Small Heath and catching up with the two bikes.

Mr Johnson later told police he felt the SEAT was following them and noticed one of the headlights was not working. “As we will see, he was right,” said Mr Bradley, who went on to describe CCTV footage showing Mr Jones doing “standing rolls”.

He continued: “You will consider the significance of that showboating. The SEAT Leon has so far been behind those bikes by some distance. There is no question that they compete, it maintains equal speeds behind. A possibility you will have to do. Consider whether the defendant shadowed Mr. Jones, hurt him, and hurt him to such an extent that he wanted to teach him a lesson.

Mr Bradley told the court that at a roundabout Mr Jones and Mr Johnson made a “significant decision” to take the second exit into Harvey Road and travel the wrong way on the one-way street to ” get rid of the SEAT Leon’, which was forced to take the first exit onto Yew Tree Lane instead. He added that Ibrahim was “clearly intent on making ground and getting his bikes back in sight” as he caught up with him on Moat Lane.

The court heard Mr Johnson drove ahead and managed to veer off the road into Gilbertstone Park. But the prosecutor said Mr Jones “wasn’t that lucky” and Ibrahim took his SEAT behind the bike, only for the rider to keep his balance.

He told the jury seconds later he accelerated and hit him again, causing Mr Jones to fall and hit a concrete bollard. Mr Bradley said CCTV cameras did not capture the second impact but did pick up the sound of the collision, followed by the screeching sound of the motorcycle being caught under the SEAT.

He claimed Ibrahim was “clearly aware” he had hit Mr Jones but made a U-turn and left the scene. He said Mr Jones was still conscious when emergency services arrived but had suffered catastrophic injuries to his chest and abdomen. He was pronounced dead at 12:13 p.m.

Mr Bradley described the defense account that the incident was a “form of racing, driving or competitive driving” as “nonsense”. He said: “This defendant was clearly overshadowed by the exhibitions in which Liam Jones engaged. He wanted to teach her a lesson and sought to control the situation by maintaining a menacing presence. This was not a race, but a chase.”

Allison Summers KC, defending, told the jury that Ibrahim’s intention was the issue in dispute. She said: “Prior to the fatal collision, Mr Ibrahim was involved with Liam Jones in some form of racing, but not in the typical high speed and overtaking manner, but in a form of competitive driving which involves accelerating and then braking late, where both he and Liam Jones each showed up in their own way.

“So the issue you have to consider when you hear the evidence is whether Abdirahman Ibrahim was chasing Liam Jones with the purpose of deliberately knocking him off his bike, intending to kill him or cause him serious injury or whether that it was a run that went. very wrong.”

Procedure.