THE father of five brothers on trial accused of murdering their cousin said he did not see any of them being violent or using weapons during a fight behind their Bradford homes.

Aksar Ali said he tried to intervene and “begged” his family members to stop after the large-scale disturbance broke out in an alleyway behind Cecil Avenue, Great Horton, at around 10.15pm on April 14 last year.

His nephew, Sarfraz Khan, 35, was fatally stabbed through the heart in the confrontation and died later that night.

Mohammed Ali Nasar, 32, Amjid Ali, 39, Amir Ali, 19, Tariq Mahmood, 26, and Sajid Hussain, 33, all of Cecil Avenue, Great Horton, deny murdering Mr Khan and causing grievous bodily harm with intent to his cousins Aftab Khan and Asad Khan.

Nasar also denies wounding another cousin, Idris Khan, with intent to cause him grievous bodily harm.

Bradford Crown Court has heard that a long-running family feud led to “extreme late-night violence,” following a row over a mop and bucket at Rossi’s Ices earlier that evening.

The dispute at the family business, on Richmond Road, Bradford, was “the straw that broke the camel’s back” after marriage breakdowns in the extended family caused tension and fall-outs, the prosecution claims.

Mr Ali told the jury yesterday he had been alerted to a disturbance outside his home and had seen Mahmood pushing Nasar and telling him to “go home.”

He went out into the street and hit his son, Nasar, telling him to get inside, saying he wanted “no more trouble or arguments.”

When he asked Idris Khan what had happened, he said he had been assaulted by Nasar.

Once inside, he said he found his son crying in the hallway saying it was him who had been “stabbed” by Idris, causing injuries to his head and hands.

Just under ten minutes later, Mr Ali said he saw a fight in the back alleyway, and saw Asad Khan and Aftab Khan assaulting someone that he later found out was Mahmood.

“I begged them repeatedly to stop, but they did not listen,” he said.

He said he had seen all of his sons in the alleyway, but said that none of them were carrying any knives or other weapons.

The court heard that Sarfraz Khan had been married to Mr Ali’s daughter, Yasmin.

Asked how he felt about him and his other nephews, he said tearfully: “I take them like my own sons.”

Prosecutor Alistair MacDonald QC asked Mr Ali why, despite repeated requests for a statement, he had refused to give one to police.

Mr Ali said: “I couldn’t make a statement because I did not believe the police were being fair. Only my sons were arrested, the other side should have been arrested too.”

When it was put to him by Mr MacDonald that telling the truth would have put his sons in the “most appalling dilemma”, he said: “What truth? I do not understand.”

The trial continues.

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