Suspect in road rage killing case feared being recalled to prison

A 26-YEAR-OLD man wanted over a road rage killing has told a jury he did not hand himself in because he did not want to go back to prison – it was a "nasty place".

Convicted drugs offender Mohammed Tariq had been allowed out of jail on licence and feared he would be recalled, even though he was not involved in the killing.

Tariq is on trial for the manslaughter of Johnny Assani. The 43-year-old father was punched and kicked by a group of at least nine men in a Derby street.

Mr Assani died on August 15 last year, the day after the attack in Walbrook Road.

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Tariq, of Walbrook Road, Derby, who denies the charge, "went to ground" after the incident and was not arrested until five-and-a-half months later.

Two of his brothers, Mohammed Shahid and Mohammed Rafiq, known as Tahir, were convicted of manslaughter earlier this year.

Yesterday Tariq told Nottingham Crown Court that he had been released from prison in April last year after serving five months of a 15-month sentence for possessing cannabis with the intent to supply to others.

He said he went to Birmingham after hearing his brothers had been arrested for the attack.

When his lawyer, Peter Birkett QC, asked him why he had left, he replied: "Because I found out all my brothers had been arrested and I thought they must want to speak to me or get in contact with me, and I thought 'I'm on a prison licence'. I remember my probation officer saying 'whether you're guilty or not, they can recall you'."

Tariq said he had wanted to give himself up but added: "My mind was all over the place. I was going crazy, to be honest, thinking about my brothers – a murder charge. I had just come out of prison. It's a nasty place."

In December last year, he discovered his photograph had gone on the picture-board on TV's Crimewatch programme. Four days later, he moved to Bradford.

Police raided his Bradford address on February 8. Tariq was found near a bathroom and a mobile phone was found in the toilet.

Asked if he had tried to dispose of the phone, Tariq said: "It just fell out of my hand at the time."

Tariq told the jury he had nothing to do with the attack and did not know there had been an incident until shortly after it happened.

He said: "When I looked out of the window, I seen an ambulance there, a crowd of people – people just crowded around. That's about it."

When asked if he knew what was going on, he replied: "No." He said he did not go outside to find out what had happened.

When asked how his DNA had ended up under a fingernail of Mr Assani, he said he did not know but agreed with Mr Birkett that he and his brothers shared clothes.

The trial continues.