Six months after a 24-year-old Muslim man named Mohammed Rafaqit Kayani was killed outside a Hindu temple in Slough town of England, a jury at the Reading Crown Court on Thursday (March 9) convicted two of his co-religionists for committing the heinous crime.
The convicts were identified as Riaz Miah (21) and his accomplice Hassan Al-Kubanji (22). As per reports, Miah had earlier pled guilty to possessing a blade in public and supplying narcotics including cocaine and heroin.
The judge has reserved the sentencing until April 3 this year. The duo had a 42-year-old aide named Miguel Parian John who was found guilty of 2 counts of blade possession and assisting one of the offenders.
Reportedly, he will be sentenced at a later date. While Hassan is a resident of Pimlico in London, Riaz has no fixed address. The duo stabbed the victim Mohammed Rafaqit Kayani on August 30 last year in the car park outside a Hindu temple in Keel Drive in Slough.
The victim later succumbed to his injuries at the hospital, where he was undergoing treatment. The wife of Mohammed Rafaqit Kayani described him as “a loving son, caring brother, selfless friend and proud Muslim man”.
She further emphasised, “(He was) a truly indescribable husband, a proud loving family member of the Kayani family as well as flying through his career at Virgin Atlantic always looking dashing as ever, beaming with pride in his uniform”.
The Background of the Case
During the three-week-long trial, the court was informed that Riaz and Hassan went to Concorde Way in Slough on August 30, 2022, to see Miguel Parian John.
They encountered Adil Mahmood, a friend of Mohammed Rafaqit Kayani, in a park. The duo believed that he was angry with them for being on his drug-dealing turf. They claimed that the deceased approached them aggressively, swinging a sword/ a huge knife at them.
The duo also alleged that they tried to defuse the situation. They thought they heard Adil Mahmood say ‘get the strap’ or ‘get the mash’, which they took as an instruction for Adil to fetch a gun. They ran out of the park, believing that there might have been others with Adil and Mohammed.
The encounter later continued in the car park of a Hindu temple on Keel Drive. Riaz said he believed Hassan would be killed by Mohammed Rafaqit Kayani. In his defence, the convict said he entered fight or flight mode, took the machete from Hassan, and then charged at the victim with it.
He hit Mohammed Rafaqit Kayani in the legs to ensure that he wouldn’t get up again. Given that there were multiple blows on the body of the victim, the jury ruled out the case of manslaughter and convicted Riaz and Hassan of murder.