The murder of a young father in broad daylight in Whitehawk was a drugs robbery gone wrong, a jury heard this morning.
Muhammed Jassey was stabbed on the Whitehawk Road on April 5 this year.
Bobby Smith, 22, and Daryl Richardson, 26, were arrested the same day and charged with his murder. Both deny the charge and have been standing trial at Brighton Crown Court.
This morning, in closing Richardson’s defence, Martin Rutherford QC referred to texts sent by Richardson in which he described a plan to steal drugs.
He said: “Richardson is one of many sad, pathetic users of drugs. You know that.
“You also know that he planned to steal drugs from a drug dealer as set out in those texts.
“Those texts speak for themselves.
“Richardson’s plan was to snatch and grab some cannabis through a window in a Volkswagen Tiguan at high speed, all of that committed under the cover of darkness so the wouldn’t get caught.
“In a few hours, at 2,18pm that afternoon when Richardson headed back to [their flat in Kite Close] with a bag of food you may have concluded his intention at that moment was to cook a meal with his friends.
“Several minutes later, Muhammmed Jassey was dying.
“The shortness of time all on its own demonstrates to you a complete absence of planning in terms of what was supposed to happen that afternoon between those three men.
“Add to that the fact the attack took place in broad daylight in a busy Brighton street, in full glare of the CCTV cameras and it tells you all you need to know about planning in this case.”
The attack was caught on CCTV, which was again played several times for the jury this morning.
In it, Mr Rutherford said, you can see Richardson and a shorter man, who the Crown says is Smith, approach Mr Jassey.
There is “an explosion of violence” when the shorter man comes right up to Mr Jassey, stabs him, and Richardson and the shorter man run off.
Before the stabbing, Richardson is seen to touch Mr Jassey, which his defence says is him patting him down for drugs, but no other contact between those two is made.
The simple fact is: a man now dead could have been alive. Everything else is obfuscation.
Is this written from fact or a press release. Inconsistencies here . I am interested in preventing future cases, What happened and why is up for dispute. Two people were clearly seen doing this, its clear who is blaming who for the stabbing. But both must be held accountable.
The drugs link is a shame and I am shocked at the Judges response and dismissal, lets look at historic criminal records and a study Of how it come to this.
I can see that poverty and repression led to these outcomes and possibly racist motives, would a white bloke from the area have gotten that.
The victim had a partner, she was pregnant and now alone with two children, one is his. I think any sentence needs to take into account those victims and the families also act as a deterrent.
In terms of drugs as its raised, how can we keep holding those accountable when the support for recovery and the issues which lead to addiction arent being solved.
Could this have been prevented, I think yes if we didnt have the hostile society which many struggle to engage with.
This is a tragedy. This was my preventable and we need to learn the lessons
Hi Dan, it’s written from my notes from court yesterday morning. Any inconsistencies will come from the fact there’s the case for both the prosecution and the defence included in the report. It’s now going to be up to a jury to decide what happened.
I’m confused about your comments about the judge’s response, as he’s not quoted in the piece?