Pair told to give evidence in person at Makki inquest

TWO men convicted as teenagers in connection with the fatal stabbing of 17-year-old Yousef Makki will give evidence in person at a new inquest into his death – unless medical evidence on their behalf is accepted, a coroner has said.

-  PAUL BRITTON

The coroner, Geraint Williams, refused submissions made on behalf of Joshua Molnar and Adam Chowdhary for them not to attend.

Their legal representatives argued at a pre-inquest review hearing held yesterday their evidence has already been given and ‘significantly tested’, during a crown court trial and at the first inquest into Yousef’s death, the findings of which were quashed in January by Court of Appeal judges who ordered a fresh examination before a new coroner.

The Makki family, however, argued it shouldn’t be just a ‘paper inquest’ and said the demeanour of a witness couldn’t be assessed from reading or listening to evidence already heard via transcripts and recordings. Mr Williams, rejecting the applicants’ submissions, said he could ‘see the force’ of the arguments, but ‘many questions’ hadn’t been asked of both Molnar and Chowdhary.

He said: “There were many questions that were not asked and there are questions that I want to ask.” Mr Williams, who retired as a senior coroner for Worcestershire in 2019 but has been appointed to the Makki case by the chief coroner, added that without asking the questions, he didn’t believe he could conduct a ‘full inquest’ into Manchester Grammar School pupil Yousef’s death.