Smethwick 'snitch' stabbed and shot at, jury told

The same man, Tyrell Harris, aged 18, was behind both attacks on Sufiyan Khan, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.

Harris admitted knifing the victim in the calf in a Smethwick car park on July 22 but claimed he was acting in self defence, revealed Mr Paul Spratt, prosecuting. But the defendant denied having anything to do with the shotgun attack on a Peugeot parked close to the junction of Green Street and Vicarage Road, Smethwick, on August 14, it was said.

The blast shattered car windows on either side of the car but ‘miraculously’ missed the driver, caused minor injuries to the forehead and knees of front seat passenger Mr Khan, and hit the electricity box of an adjacent house, explained the prosecutor.

The two men had noticed a VW Golf parked nearby when they went out for cigarettes around 10pm and saw it drive slowly towards them after the Peugeot stopped at the top end of Green Street. Mr Spratt told the jury: “A shotgun appeared through a rear window and was fired, shattering the windows of the Peugeot. Tyrell Harris was at the other end of the gun.

“He was illuminated by a street light and seen by Mr Khan who opened a door and rolled onto the pavement. Miraculously, you might think, nobody was seriously injured. Harris had intended to kill him.”

Police found the VW abandoned nearby soon afterwards. It had been stolen from an address in Smethwick two days earlier.

The prosecutor said Mr Khan had been subjected to intimidation after complaining to police that he had been robbed on February 20 last year.

People congregated outside his home, called him a ‘snitch’ and threatened to stab him in an attempt to get him to retract his statement, the jury heard.

On July 22, he and another man were approached in a car park off Smethwick High Street by Harris, who was armed with what appeared to be a hunting knife, and 18-year-old Ramel Bennett, it was alleged.Harris stabbed Mr Khan in the calf while Bennett prevented the victim’s friend from intervening, the court was told.

Mr Spratt said: “Harris had a job to do and did it in a rush. He was not, as he later attested, acting in self defence. Mr Khan had been warned he was going to be stabbed, and he was.” The knife was later found in the tumble dryer at the home of Harris, it was said.

The prosecutor alleged that the attacker had been seen among those congregated outside the victim’s house on several occasions and had threatened him. Both defendants were picked out at identity parades.

Harris of Abbeyfield Road, Erdington, and Bennett, of Laurel Drive, Smethwick, both plead not guilty to wounding Mr Khan with intent on July 22.

The former also denies attempted murder on August 14 and possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life. The case continues.