Murder accused 'feared black magic spell' (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Murder accused 'feared black magic spell'

3:52pm Thursday 15th May 2008 in

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A man on trial accused of battering a student to death with a cricket bat said a black magic spell had been put on him, a murder trial jury heard.

Dawood Khan told his cousin of his fears after he returned from a trip to London.

Gulab Khan, who shared an attic bedroom with Dawood at Rupert Street, Keighley, said he was scared after he came back from a visit to the capital to look for work, Bradford Crown Court heard.

Gulab Khan said his cousin, an illegal immigrant, was afraid the police would "get him" and send him back to Afghanistan.

He stopped eating and was deteriorating.

"He said some people had done black magic on him," Mr Khan told the jury today.

Dawood Khan denies murdering Bradford College student Nazeer Ahmed, 22, who also lived at the Rupert Street address.

Mr Ahmed was killed while sitting on the sofa on May 31 last year.

The prosecution alleges there is "compelling evidence" Dawood Khan clubbed him to death with a cricket bat.

Pathologist Professor Christopher Milroy said Mr Ahmed died from a brain injury after his skull was shattered.

Professor Milroy told the jury "a very substantial impact" cracked the top of the skull.

He said Mr Ahmed had injuries to his hands suggesting he tried to parry repeated blows.

The student was struck up to five times to the head, once to the neck and twice to the chest.

"There have been a number of blows delivered to the head with a heavy, blunt, object. This has resulted in extensive bruising to the brain. That was what killed him," Professor Milroy said.

He said the injuries were consistent with a cricket bat having been used.

Professor Milroy said he was a fit and healthy young man, totally sober and free from drugs.

He would have lost consciousness straight away from the head injuries.

Rizwan Ali, 30, a tenant at Rupert Street at the time of the killing, said Mr Ahmed told him he had been robbed at gunpoint about four months before his death.

Mr Ahmed said he was pulled into a car, a gun was held to his head and he was forced to hand over £200 he had just drawn from a filling station cashpoint, Mr Ali said.

Cricketer Ajay Rajput told the jury of his shock and fear at finding Mr Ahmed's body.

Mr Rajput, 24, a semi-professional cricketer at Skipton Cricket Club, was a lodger at the house.

He said he opened the front door and saw Mr Ahmed on the sofa.

"I started shaking. I was very frightened. Even to think about it now makes me frightened," he said.

Mr Rajput said he took a step or two into the living room, looked for a couple of seconds and walked out.

"It was the first time in my life I have seen such a thing," he said.

He said the bat allegedly used to murder Mr Ahmed was not his. It was used by the housemates to play cricket in the street with a tennis ball.

The trial continues.