A man who saw his close friend and neighbour stabbed to death has been left traumatised by the incident as he is forced to relive it every time he walks out his front door.
Raish Ahmed, who has been described as very friendly and softly spoken, was brutally attacked outside the block of flats he lived in, in Custom House, Newham on the afternoon of Saturday, October 5.
Police found Mr Ahmed, 50, with stab wounds and he was rushed to hospital, but he died from his injuries two days later. A teenage boy was found with a slash injury and neighbour, Mohammad Hasan, was also attacked. Both survived their injuries, which were assessed as not life-threatening.
Daniel Whybrow, 46, of Hartington Road has been charged with murder, as well as grievous bodily harm against the teenage boy and threats to kill, and racially aggravated assault by beating, as well as the possession of an offensive weapon. Mr Whybrow is due to appear at Central Criminal Court on Monday, January 6 next year.
Mr Hasan says he feels ‘totally hopeless’, has found it difficult to concentrate at work and has been struggling to sleep at night, and has attended counselling sessions for his anxiety and trauma.
He has spoken out against Newham Council as he doesn’t feel like he and Mr Ahmed’s family have been supported enough as they are still waiting to be rehoused away from where the incident happened.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) understands Mr Ahmed’s family are staying with friends as they also haven’t been rehoused by the council. A council spokesperson told the LDRS they haven’t been able to relocate Mr Hasan as there’s a limited number of council homes available.
Mr Hasan said: “The way the council has treated us after the incident is more heartbreaking and instead of supporting us they are just playing with us. I don’t feel like we’ve been fairly treated, the local authority has not treated us fairly, we are being discriminated against. They are not listening, they are not helping us with our state of mind.”
Mr Hasan explained that he and his wife feel scared whenever they go outside, and are constantly looking over their shoulder because they feel unsafe.
He said: “Every day I am just looking at the spot where [Mr Ahmed] was stabbed, it’s automatic – I’m just looking there, I can’t move myself, I’m trying to move myself and I don’t want to look there but still I’m just looking there. We are just feeling very scared like somebody is around us, we are [staring at] everybody which is not a good thing… it looks very unsocial but because of our anxiety, we are in a very worrying situation.”
Mr Hasan’s relationship with Mr Ahmed was so close he saw him as a brother, and says the situation is still difficult to process.
Mr Ahmed worked as a security officer at a museum, and Mr Hasan says he had a gentle yet funny personality, and was always talking to his neighbours and looked after his wife and their children.
Mr Hasan said: “It’s very difficult, when I’m going outside or coming inside the whole scenario is in front of my eyes. [Mr Ahmed] was very much close to us like a brother, like family and every night we watched a movie together and went outside like a family. This incident is just stuck in my mind, I still imagine him calling me to ask, ‘Where are you? What are you doing?'”
A spokesperson for Newham Council said: “We are sorry to hear about the difficulties being experienced by Mr Hasan. Our housing team has met Mr Hasan on a number of occasions regarding his housing needs, and we will continue to provide support where we can. Unfortunately, due to the extremely limited number of council properties available, we are unable to offer Mr Hasan an alternative property at this time.”
