A drug dealer is expected to be jailed shortly for the murder of Abdul Deghayes in Brighton after stabbing eight times in a fight.
Daniel Macleod, 37, faces a life sentence at Southwark Crown Court where he was convicted unanimously by a jury last month after a five-week trial.
Macleod, of Gipsy Lane, south London, denied murder but admitted killing 22-year-old Deghayes, known as A1 to his friends.
Deghayes had been stabbed in the back. The wound – 9in to 10in deep – was close to his kidney and caused heavy blood loss.
Adam Feest, prosecuting, told the jury that Deghayes, of Chadborn Close, Brighton, had wounds where the single-blade knife had gone right through his hand as he desperately tried to fend off the fatal attack.
And another “defensive” wound inflicted on the wrist had cut his tendon as Deghayes tried to ward off Macleod.
Deghayes also suffered a 6in stab wound to his left thigh and another – slightly less deep – which cut his thigh bone and severed his femoral artery, causing catastrophic bleeding.
Mr Feest told the jury: “Abdul Deghayes sustained serious and significant injuries from which he never recovered and due to their nature was never likely to recover.”
Macleod, who ran his drug dealing business from a house in Bristol Gate, Brighton, claimed to have been acting in self-defence.
Two of his drug dealing colleagues from Brighton are also due to be sentenced today (Friday 13 November).
Abdulrahman “Abdul” Deghayes, of Chadborn Close, Brighton, was stabbed outside Hanover Court, in Wellington Road, Brighton, off the bottom of Elm Grove, opposite St Joseph’s Church.
He had gone there with his friend Colby Broderick, of Falcon Court, Swanborough Drive, Whitehawk, to buy some cocaine.
The fight happened shortly before 9.30pm on Saturday 16 February last year.
Broderick tried to drive Deghayes to hospital but the wounded young man passed out in Broderick’s car and slumped against him, causing him to crash in Elm Grove.
Broderick, 27, ran away as passers-by rang 999, before going to the police station in John Street, Brighton, the next day when he was initially arrested as a suspect.
Deghayes was taken to the Royal Sussex County Hospital, in Brighton, where despite the best efforts of medics he was pronounced dead at 6am the next day.
Macleod said that Deghayes had a knife and tried to rob him and the pair got into a fight and in a few brief moments he stabbed Deghayes as he fought for his life.
Macleod had already admitted drug dealing – as had Stephen Burns, 56, of Lennox Street, Brighton, and another man, Abdi Dahir, 24, of Meadowview, Brighton. They sold cannabis, ecstasy and cocaine.
All three are due to be sentenced by Judge Nicholas Hilliard at the same time today.
Two of Abdul Deghayes’s brothers were killed fighting in Syria. His twin Abdullah, 18, died in 2016 and his younger brother Jaffar, 17, was killed in October 2014 while trying to overthrow President Bashar Al-Assad’s government.
His older brother, Amer, is believed to still be in Syria or the surrounding area.
