A thug carried out a vicious machete attack on a schoolfriend over a drugs debt - then boasted on Instagram he was 'armed and dangerous' as he tried to flee the law.
Sayam Ali, 18, went on the run following a broad daylight assault with a 12-inch blade, which left his terrified 16-year-old victim bleeding so heavily he thought he would die. But he was caught at Manchester Airport attempting to board a flight to Malta.
As he was jailed yesterday (Thursday), his victim's mother described her son's attacker as 'the scum of the earth' amid fears her psychologically scarred child will be left permanently disabled.
The attack happened after Ali jumped out of a car and carried out the attack on his 16-year-old victim in Rochdale on June 14. CCTV footage played in court showed Ali chasing his victim across Sheriff Street, slashing him across the shoulder with the weapon.
Lisa Boocock, prosecuting, told Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester that the defendant and his victim, a college student, had been friends at school.
But the relationship turned sour after Ali gave his pal £200, which the victim found 'particularly enticing', and also gave him drugs to sell, the court was told. The younger boy, who the M.E.N is not naming, was told by Ali he could make up to £400, Ms Boocock told the court.
The barrister said that 'unfortunately for' the victim his mother, who had become suspicious of her son, found wraps of drugs plus £50 cash and confiscated them while teen was in the shower. She flushed some of the drugs down the toilet, but kept a small amount to show police, the court was told.
The teenager was 'very angry and upset' at his mother's intervention and, the court was told, he shouted to his mother: "I'm going to get chopped up. I'm in deep s**t. I can't get out of this. You don't know what will happen to me. We need to give them back. I don't know how I'm going to get out of this."
The court heard he made allegations to police against his mother, but later he apologised to her.
Ms Boocock said the victim was walking along Sheriff Street when a vehicle on false plates being driven by Ali and two females on board and possibly one other person approached him.
He jumped out of the driver's seat and pulled out a 12-inch machete. CCTV played to the court showed Ali chasing the youth along the street with the weapon, stabbing the victim in the shoulder. A second blow just missed him.
Ali ran back into the car which sped away from the scene. "It was an attack in broad daylight. There were members of the public around at the time," said Ms Boocock.
Armed police were called to the scene but one paramedic defied a warning to stay away to and went to treat the casualty, the court heard. He treated 'catastrophic' bleeding from the boy's left shoulder before he was taken to hospital.
After the boy had identified his attacker to police, officers uncovered an Instagram post by Ali that day which read: "They f***ed me. Raise alert. Armed and dangerous."
A hunt for the attacker was launched and, through his solicitor, Ali agreed to attend a police station on June 23, but he failed to show. Ali was eventually caught at Manchester Airport on June 29 with four large suitcases on his way to Malta.
After he was arrested, he made no comment in his police interview except to deny it was him in the CCTV footage of the attack. He refused a video identification parade.
The boy had a plate and screws inserted during surgery to 10 to 15cm wound which left him with a broken bone in his left shoulder and damage to his muscle tissue. He is left-handed.
He was left with 'significant restriction' in movement of his arm but doctors hoped he would recover and would lose only some 'motor skills' in his hand, the court heard.
But the boy still suffers 'intense pain' and difficulties with his movement and will now require a second operation, said the prosecutor. Frustrated at waiting lists in the UK, his family have paid for the youngster to have the operation privately in Pakistan, the court was told. The teenager had demonstrated some signs that he also had PTSD.
In a victim personal statement read out to the court, the boy said he was bleeding so much that he thought he was 'going to die'.
He said he was left 'scared' and 'in a great deal of pain' in hospital but worried most of all whether he could ever return to his 'previous life'. He said the morphine he was prescribed 'wasn't touching' the pain.
"I have been left traumatised by what happened and every time I go to bed I hear shouts and screams. I hear them shouting 'I want your arm - I want your leg'. Sometimes I have to ask my mum to come and sit with me," he said, adding he could not even make a Pot Noodle without help from his mother.
Referring to his attacker, he said: "I feel for the position that he's in but I didn't deserve this."
His mother, in her own statement read out to the court, said her son continues to suffer flashbacks and that he remained 'nervous' and was always 'looking over his shoulder'.
Ronan Maguire, defending, said: "The defendant asks me to express his genuine remorse that he feels for the injury that he's caused (the victim). He hopes (the victim) makes as full a recovery as he possibly can."
Referring to a series of testimonials handed to the judge, the barrister said his client, one of four children of separated parents, was 'well thought of' and was 'determined to try and change his ways'. The relationship between his parents was 'always toxic' but had deteriorated, he said, adding his client had 'always smoked cannabis'.
Mr Maguire said the 'overwhelming likelihood' was that his client 'was a very small cog in a much larger wheel that's spun by people who send young people, sometimes children... to do their bidding'.
The judge, Recorder Abigail Hudson, told Ali: "You attacked (the victim) and you did that with a machete in broad daylight and you did it because, having been recruited by you, his friend, to run drugs, he lost them. You then tried to flee the country and you posted aggressive, arrogant comments on social media."
The 'catastrophic' injury he inflicted had caused 'serious ramifications' and would 'inevitably have a huge psychological impact' on his victim, added the judge.
"You used a weapon. It was a dangerous weapon. It was taken to the scene for the purposes of this attack. It was a revenge attack and it was pre-planned," said Judge Hudson.
Referring to a letter the defendant wrote to the judge, Recorder Hudson said: "You say you are sorry to (the victim) but for the most part your letter is a recitation of how this has affected you. You talk about what you won't be able to do, what you are missing out on and the difficulties you are experiencing rather than expressing any real remorse for what you did to (the victim)."
The judge added that the victim's mother had been 'absolutely right' to destroy the drugs she found.
Ali, of Hayes Close in Rochdale, who has only one motoring offence on his record, showed no reaction when he was sentenced to five years and four months after he admitted GBH with intent at a previous hearing. He will be eligible for parole two-thirds of the way through his sentence. He was also handed an extra two years on top of his licence period.
A group of his friends was in the public gallery, but not his parents, as he he was jailed.
After the hearing, the boy's mother, who was also in the public gallery, told the M.E.N: "To be honest, he could have got any sentence and it will never be enough. He nearly killed my son. There's no sentence you could give him for what he did and what we've been through.
"He's the scum of the earth for what he's done. What right does he have to try and take a life? He did it for no reason."
Describing the effect on her son, the 36-year-old mother-of-three added: "I don't think he will ever come around from this. It has caused a lot of trauma. He can't use his hand at all. He can't pick up a mug.
"He can't write. He's left handed. He's basically disabled and can't do anything. It's like he's a baby again. I wash him, bathe him, put his clothes on. It's very frustrating and embarrassing for him. I'm like his carer."
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