A murderer who was arrested at work in JD Sports had already confined in a colleague that he was involved in an attack.
Police bodycam footage shown in court this week showed officers arriving at the store the morning after 19-year-old Ridhwaan Farouk and his brother committed the killing.
The pair had ambushed their 20-year-old victim Amin Talea who was found by two strangers but he died a few hours later in hospital as a result of being stabbed.
Following a trial at Birmingham Crown Court, Farouk from Northfield, and his older brother Mohammed Farouk, 21, from, Bartley Green, were found guilty of murder.
The siblings had caught a taxi on the evening of October 1 last year.
They then lay in wait and attacked Mr Talea around 9pm as he left his flat to meet two of his friends parked in a Volkswagen Golf outside, reports Birmingham Live. The victim managed to run off and flagged down two passers-by, who called for an ambulance after seeing he was bleeding severely.
Prosecutor Mark Heywood, opening the case earlier this month, told the jury that, the following morning, Ridhwaan was given a lift to work by his colleague. He said: “He asked her to swing by Middleton Hall Road on the way to check something out.
“He didn’t say what, but his colleague already knew from social media there had been an incident in Middleton Hall Road. Straight away, she wanted to know what was up and asked Ridhwaan what he had done.
“He told her he and somebody who he only referred to as ‘his brother’ - he didn’t say who that was or what he meant by that expression - but he and this individual had been there the night before, it wasn’t ‘his beef’ it was his brother’s. The two of them in the car found Middleton Hall Road still blocked by police examining the scene.
“The colleague told Ridhwaan somebody had died. He appeared to be shocked to hear that and responded by swearing, saying ‘f***’. He also commented he was ‘going to go down for this’ and felt sick.
“He told her about taking a taxi to Overbury Road walking to Amin Talea’s flat and waiting for him to come out. He didn’t think he would be picked up on CCTV and didn’t know about doorbell cameras.”
Jurors were shown the soundless footage of police confronting Ridhwaan at JD Sports in Selly Oak later that morning. After being arrested at the shop, he denied to the officers the conversation with his co-worker had taken place, the court heard.
He later claimed Mr Talea was a ‘gang affiliate’ who could have been attacked for ‘many reasons’, according to StokeonTrent Live.
Today, West Midlands Police stated the brothers’ motive ‘remained a mystery’, but said the case was another example of the ‘devastating impact of knife crime’. The Farouks will be sentenced on Friday (April 29).
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