Sunday October 11, 2015
By Lucy Thornton , Sam Webb , Martin Charlesworth
Two men have gone on trial for the murder Jordan Thomas who was shot dead in Sheffield city centre
The brother of a man murdered at city centre traffic lights after he was ambushed by a gunman says he was scared his family would be under threat if he went to police, a court heard.It is claimed Jordan Thomas, 22, was blasted in the chest twice at point blank range in a gangland revenge attack.Aidan Thomas-Boswell told Sheffield Crown Court he did not give information to the police for months after his brother was gunned down by a masked killer because he feared violent retribution against his loved ones.
The gunman emerged from a 4x4 Mitsubishi Shogun - which pulled alongside Mr Thomas - while he was sat in a stationary Ford Mondeo. The man had his hood pulled around his face.
He then went up to the Mondeo’s front passenger side window and fired three shots using a gun, which appeared to have a silencer attached.
The first shot hit the car’s driver, Neshuan Ferguson, 28, in his side, with the other two fatally hitting Mr Thomas in his chest. The driver survived his injuries.
The shooting was witnessed by a shocked couple in a car behind the two vehicles.
This week Jama Ahmed, 26, and Asif Yousaf, 33, went on trial for murder, which they both deny.
The fatal shooting took place at 10.15pm in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, after a ‘feud with a Somalian group’, a jury was told. The victim died from gunshot wounds in hospital, an hour after being shot on December 21.
Mr Thomas-Boswell made his first statement to police two days after Ahmed had been arrested on suspicion of murder.
Dexter Dias QC, representing Ahmed, put it to Mr Thomas-Boswell the reason for the delay was because his statement was 'lies', reports The Sheffield Star .
Mr Thomas-Boswell responded: "I was grieving for my brother. The place where I am from you are not supposed to be telling on anybody."
Bryan Cox QC, for the prosecution, asked why there had been a delay and Mr Thomas-Boswell said it was "fear of retribution"
He added: "I didn’t want to put the whole family in jeopardy of something happening to them. We had seen what had happened to Jordan."
A court heard, the two gangs live on the opposite sides of Sheffield city centre.
It is claimed his killers were members of a Somali gang seeking retribution against Mr Thomas’ rival gang.
About three years earlier, in 2011, Mr Thomas’s cousin James Knowles, 22, fatally stabbed Somalian, Mubarak Ali, 23.
Since that killing, tension between the two gangs had escalated, said Bryan Cox QC, prosecuting.
On Monday Mr Cox told Sheffield crown court the feud between the two rival gangs of men had been “festering” for a considerable time.
But two days before Mr Jordan’s death “old wounds” were opened after a confrontation outside a Sheffield nightclub and shots were fired at the Somalis group as they fled.
“Shortly after the incident at the club the Somalian group decided to take revenge,” said Mr Cox. “A planned shooting was carried out by a member of the Somali gang.”
“The bad feeling between these groups had built up over months and years and was inflamed by the events of the preceding days resulting in the killing.”
Ahmed had been seen looking for Mr Thomas with a gun the previous day and threats had been made on Mr Thomas’ life, the court heard.
“This was a planned killing,” said Mr Cox and although it had not been possible to identify the shooter both Ahmed and Yousaf allegedly participated in the murder.
He said Ahmed was closely involved in buying the Shogun and Yousaf’s DNA was found inside it.
Ahmed and Yousaf, both from Sheffield deny the murder of Mr Thomas and the attempted murder of Mr Ferguson.
Yousaf’s parents Mohammed Yousaf, 61, and Tazeem Bi, 57, deny perverting the course of justice by giving a false alibi claiming their son was at home at the time of the shooting.
The trial, which is expected to last between three to four weeks, continues.