A driver who mowed down an “entirely innocent” teenager with a car he used as a “weapon” has been found guilty of murder.
Abdullah Yaser Abdullah al Yazidi, 16, was walking along a pavement when he was struck by an Audi driven down the wrong side of the road by Zulkernain Ahmed in Sheffield last June.
The teenager was thrown in the air by the impact, the city’s crown court heard.
Video footage was shown to jurors of the vehicle moving to the wrong side of Staniforth Road, in the Darnall area of Sheffield, colliding with who the prosecution said was e-bike rider La’rome Divers, knocking him over a hedge, before hitting Abdullah.
Zulkernain Ahmed was also convicted of causing Mr Divers grievous bodily harm (GBH) with intent and attempting to cause two unidentified riders GBH with intent.
Ahmed, 21; his brother Armaan Ahmed, 27; and Adam Mohammed, 30; had all previously denied murdering Abdullah.
Prosecutors said the defendants, all of Darnall, were out looking for Mr Divers over a dispute about e-bikes.
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Zulkernain Ahmed used the car as a “weapon” as he targeted Mr Divers, who was riding with two others – one on a moped and the other on another e-bike, according to prosecutors.
Armaan Ahmed, who was a back seat passenger in the Audi, was cleared of murder but found guilty of manslaughter and of causing GBH to Mr Divers.
Another back seat passenger, Adam Mohammed, 30, was cleared of both murder and manslaughter and a number of other charges.
All three defendants were cleared of attempting to murder the three riders after three days of deliberation by the jury of nine women and three men.
A third Ahmed brother, Zain, who police have not traced, was the front seat passenger of the Audi.
Mr Divers, who refused to make a statement to police, was seriously injured in the incident, the court heard.
Abdullah, who was seen throwing and catching a water bottle as he walked along the pavement before the collision on 4 June last year, was “in the wrong place at the wrong time”, said prosecutors.
In his evidence, Zulkernain Ahmed said he was looking for Mr Divers because he was worried he was a threat to his family, and spotted him riding on Staniforth Road.
The defendant, who admitted taking a baseball bat with him, told the jury he only wanted to talk to Mr Divers but “at the last second I got scared and panicked” and decided to “give him a nudge”.
He told the jury: “It was not my intention for anything like this to happen to (Abdullah) or to anyone.”
Armaan Ahmed told police he went with his brother for a meeting about a bike, and he was there to “make sure he was safe”.
Adam Mohammed told police “my sole purpose for getting in the vehicle was to smoke a spliff and then to go play snooker”, the court heard.
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The jury had been told Zulkernain Ahmed had admitted the manslaughter of Abdullah and one charge of causing GBH.
Abdullah’s family said in a statement they welcomed the guilty verdict and were “devastated by our loss”.
Detective Chief Inspector Benjamin Wood, of South Yorkshire Police, said: “Abdullah was an entirely innocent boy who tragically lost his life after being struck by a car on Staniforth Road in June last year.
“He was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
The officer called it a “heartbreaking case which was entirely avoidable”.
The Ahmed brothers will be sentenced on 4 June.
