A teenager rammed and killed a 'showboating' biker to 'teach him a lesson', a court heard. Liam Jones suffered fatal injuries after he was knocked off his electric bike and struck a concrete bollard on Moat Lane, in Yardley shortly before midnight on August 1 last year.
A jury was told 'this was no accident' and that Abdirahman Ibrahim deliberately collided into him with his SEAT Leon. It was alleged the then-19-year-old had pursued Mr Jones from Coventry Road and possibly 'took umbrage' to him performing wheelies in front of him.
Ibrahim, now 20 and of Bonham Grove, Yardley has admitted manslaughter but stands trial at Birmingham Crown Court denying a charge of murder. His case is that the incident was caused by racing 'gone very wrong'.
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Opening the case prosecutor Phil Bradley KC said Mr Jones, who lived in Alum Rock with his sister, had driven his electric bike into Birmingham city centre with his friend Tayzhon Johnson on the evening of August 1 last year.
At around 11.40pm they decided to leave because the charge on the vehicles was running low. Mr Bradley stated they drove back along Coventry Road and passed the defendant's SEAT Leon, which was white with tinted windows, travelling in the opposite direction. CCTV stills captured Ibrahim turn around at the ASDA roundabout in Small Heath and catch up with the two bikes.
Mr Johnson would later tell police he felt the SEAT was following them and he noticed one of the headlamps was not working. "As we shall see, he was right," said Mr Bradley who went on to describe CCTV stills capturing Mr Jones performing 'stand-up wheelies'.
He continued: "You are going to consider the significance of that showboating. The SEAT Leon had by now been behind those bikes for some distance. There's no question of them racing, it keeps equal speeds behind. One possibility you are going to have to consider is whether the defendant took umbrage to Mr Jones showboating. If it wound him up and if it wound him up to such extent he wanted to teach him a lesson."
Mr Bradley told the court that at one particular roundabout Mr Jones and Mr Johnson took a 'significant decision' to take the second exit into Harvey Road and travel the wrong way down the one-way street to 'escape the SEAT Leon', which was forced to take the first exit down Yew Tree Lane instead. He added Ibrahim was 'clearly intent on making up ground and getting those bikes back into his sights' as he caught up with him on Moat Lane.
The court heard Mr Johnson drove ahead and managed to veer off-road into Gilbertstone Park. But the prosecutor said Mr Jones was 'not so fortunate' and Ibrahim drove his SEAT into the back of his bike, only for the rider to keep his balance.
He told the jury seconds later he sped up and struck him again leading to Mr Jones falling off and striking a concrete bollard. Mr Bradley said CCTV cameras did not capture the second impact but they did pick up the audio of the collision followed by the scraping sound of the motorbike caught underneath the SEAT.
He argued Ibrahim was 'clearly aware' he had struck Mr Jones but performed a U-turn and drove away from the scene. He stated Mr Jones was still conscious when emergency services arrived but had suffered catastrophic chest and abdomen injuries. He was pronounced dead at 12.13am.
Mr Bradley described the defence account that the incident was a 'form of racing, brinkmanship or competitive driving' as 'nonsense'. He said: "This defendant clearly took umbrage at the showboating Liam Jones engaged in. He wanted to teach him a lesson and sought to exact control of the situation by maintaining a menacing presence. This was not a race it was a pursuit."
Allison Summers KC, defending, told the jury that Ibrahim's intent was the issue in dispute. She said: "Before the fatal collision Mr Ibrahim was engaged with Liam Jones in a form of racing but not in the typical manner of high-speed and over-taking but a form of competitive driving involving accelerating and then braking late where both he and Liam Jones were each showing off in their own way.
"So the issue for you to have in mind as you listen to the evidence is whether Abdirahman Ibrahim was following Liam Jones with the aim of deliberately knocking him off his bike intending he should be killed or caused serious harm or whether this was racing which went very wrong."
Proceeding.
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