Man jailed over fatal stabbing of Badri Issa in Moss Side has sentence increased

A man jailed for murdering a man during a row over a car has had his sentence increased.

Raami Mohamed, 22, was convicted of stabbing 22-year-old Badri Issa to death at Manchester Crown Court in June 2023, with a minimum term of 18 years.

Emergency services found Issa with life-threatening injuries on Moss Lane East, Moss Side, south Manchester shortly before 8pm on Wednesday 25 October.

He later died in hospital. The 22-year-old, who recently graduated from Manchester Metropolitan University, had attempted to intervene after his friend Omar Jeylaani and Mohamed argued over payments for a car before he was stabbed in the chest.

Mohamed and Kevell Blake had been driving down Princess Road in Manchester, and signalled for Issa and Jeylaani to stop in their vehicle.

Mohamed attacked Jeylaani as he left the car and stabbed Issa, who had attempted to stop the argument.

Mohamed then fled the scene before he was arrested the following day by police.

Blake, who was 20 at the time of the trial, was jointly charged with Issa’s murder.

He was acquitted of murder but convicted of manslaughter and has yet to be sentenced, according to the Attorney General’s Office.

The Attorney General referred Mohamed’s sentence to the Court of Appeal, arguing it was “unduly lenient”.

At a hearing on 6 September in London, judges increased Mohamed’s minimum jail term to 21 years less time spent on remand.

Lord Justice Males, sitting alongside Mrs Justice May and Mr Justice Bryan, said: “This is a case where the offender took a knife to the scene and used it by striking the victim in the centre of his chest.

“In those circumstances there was a clear risk of death, even if that was not intended, and in the event the offender’s actions made it closer to inevitable.”

Lord Justice Males told the court how Issa’s family, some of whom watched Friday’s hearing remotely, previously described him “as an anchor who held us together”, and whose “anguish was compounded when the offender at trial described Issa as a violent aggressor”.

He added that Issa’s actions were described by witnesses as being those of a “peacemaker”.

In increasing the sentence, the judge said: “Though this was a chance incident, this remains a case where the offender had a knife with him available for use if necessary.

“He did not have to go out armed with a knife and he initiated the encounter.”

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