A man shot at a home where children were living while high on cocaine and alcohol.
Saeed Ahmed, who was looking after two weapons and ammunition for his drug dealers, shot one of the guns immediately after a man had fled his flat. After police were called to the scene they found a strike mark from a bullet on the wall of a home where two children lived.
Martyn Walsh, prosecuting, told Liverpool Crown Court on Monday (May 9) that police rushed to the scene at 9.30am on December 17 last year after a woman living in a flat in Wellington Road, Wavertree, heard shouting and banging coming from Ahmed’s adjacent flat.
READ MORE: Live updates as motorbike crash closes Coastal Road and air ambulance lands
Mr Walsh said: "At 11.55am she heard footsteps like someone was being chased and looked through her key hole and saw someone running from his address and down Picton Road. Ahmed came out of his home and raised his arms in a shooting stance and she heard two loud bangs and saw smoke coming from his hands."
Mr Walsh said the police were called and Ahmed tried to leave the scene on an electric scooter but was arrested. His flat was searched and two women were found there, but no weapons.
A cartridge was found on the pavement outside his home and a bullet in the garden of a nearby house. The next day a police dog handler found a North Face rucksack on open land behind Wavertree Sports Centre.
It was found to contain a bag inside which was the loaded black Glock pistol fitted with a magazine. There were another 37 bullets and a silencer and the defendant’s DNA was found on both weapons, from which the serial numbers were removed.
Ahmed, whose address was given as Eversley Street, Toxteth, pleaded guilty to possessing the Glock with intent to cause fear of violence, and possessing a prohibited weapon, the Zoraki. The court heard 40-year-old Ahmed has a lengthy criminal record with convictions including a robbery conspiracy and drugs supply.
At the time of his latest offences he was subject to a suspended four month sentence for possessing a knife.
The judge said his bad record was an aggravating factor and a probation report described him as presenting a high risk of serious harm. Ahmed was described by the court as a dangerous offender, meaning he cannot apply for parole until he has served two thirds of his sentence.
Judge Stuart Driver, QC ruled Ahmed was a dangerous offender and put him behind bars for seven years with an extended licence of three years. He said: "It [the gun] was discharged into a residential street and a bullet struck a wall of a house near to a window and in that house at the time children were living there."
He said the possession of both guns was connected to drugs "and when you discharged the weapon you were intoxicated through alcohol and drugs. You left both weapons in a bag in a public park exposing members of the public to risk. It came with a silencer and it was also found with ammunition."
The court heard that although no one was injured in the incident, an innocent woman eyewitness described herself as being “a bag of nerves”.
She said she's in fear for her life and had to move out of the home she loved. Mr Walsh said that in a impact statement Ahmed’s woman neighbour told how before the incident she used to be "a fairly confident person".
Now, her mental and physical health has deteriorated, she is unable to sleep and felt she was “losing her mind.” The stress had also affected her family and her life had "been turned upside down."
She described her flat as "perfect" and said she spent a lot of money on doing it up but she had no longer felt safe in it and had had to move. She added: "I’m scared, my life changed that day and will never be the same again."
Peter Wilson, defending, said that Ahmed is remorseful and is "fully aware that the inevitable custodial sentence will have an impact on his nine-year-old son." Ahmed himself had had a difficult childhood, suffering abuse and in 2020 his mental health deteriorated.
He began using alcohol and taking cocaine every day “which is why he had racked up such a significant debt and found himself involved in these offences.”
Mr Wilson said the defendant felt pressurised into keeping hold of the firearms by drug dealers and had been threatened by the man who had been in his flat.
Detective Inspector John Mullen said: "Vital information from the community helped us to uncover these weapons. I would like to thank the public and ask that they continue to be our eyes and ears so that we can take positive action and put people behind bars.
"Every weapon we recover is one less out there on the streets that could be used to cause fear, intimidation or harm."
