Wednesday, September 24, 2014

2 Muslims jailed in London on charges of manslaughter

(London) Two brothers have been jailed for manslaughter after throwing a man into a dockyard where he succumbed to the freezing cold at Shadwell Basin (a former dock from London's maritime past) and drowned.


In March 2010, 27-year-old Amran Chowdhury and and his younger brother Misba Chowdhury, 24, were part of a group which launched an unprovoked attack on Ibrahim Ghrib and his girlfriend. The court heard Ibrahim had been drinking at the basin with his girlfriend on the night of his death. Amran, who had also been drinking, was with his girlfriend at a nearby block of flats. As he left at 9.25pm, he called a friend from his mobile. Soon he was joined by a group including Misba. For no reason they approached Ibrahim and hit his girlfriend in the head a number of times with a bottle, knocking her out. When she came around, she heard her Moroccan-born boyfriend shouting from the 12m (40ft) deep water of the basin and the group running off. Despite the efforts of two men, Mr Ghrib could not be rescued and he froze to death within minutes.

Amran's phone was recovered from the scene and police arrested him and his brother. At the Old Bailey today Amran (above left) was sentenced to six years in prison for the attack and Misba (above centre) to five. Amran's then girlfriend Steffi Rai (above right), 27, of Birmingham will be sentenced at a later date for perverting the course of justice.