Stabbed driver begged for help'

MURDER TRIAL TOLD OF LAST MOMENTS OF VICTIM

- ANDREW BARDSLEY

A DRIVER desperately called for help as he was stabbed to death at a set of traffic lights after a high speed pursuit, a murder jury was told.

Sadiq Al-Lami died after an incident on Kingsway, East Didsbury, in the early hours of the morning.

The 30-year-old was behind the wheel of a grey Mercedes E220 when a black Mercedes C200 containing five men stopped next to him.

Minshull Street Crown Court was told Mr Al-Lami and men from the other car got out.

He was then knifed 11 times during a fight, the jury was told. Mr AlLami was left to die on the road after his alleged attackers fled the scene.

Five men who are on trial deny his murder Sultan Bakr, 22, Sikander Babar, 24, his brother, Abdul Babar, 19, Noraiz Kamal, 18, and Yousaf Ahmed, 24.

Two of the accused told police that both cars had been racing before the incident, on January 23 this year, while prosecutors described it as a 'high-speed pursuit Prosecutor David McLachlan KC said that in the moments before their meeting, the black Mercedes had been seen driving at high speed and went through a red light.

A couple of minutes earlier, the witness had seen Mr Al-Lami's car which had been travelling at a 'normal' speed, the jury heard. The witness saw men in both vehicles get out before a fight broke out.