Two men have gone on trial accused of the ‘senseless and brutal’ murder of a dad who was set upon in a takeaway.
Kalvinder Singh, 31, a grocer known to pals as Bob, suffered terrible head injuries after being battered with a plank and stamped on after a minor row at the Burning Balti, in Cheetham Hill, in 2004.
Artan Hysaj, 34 and Emirjan Hysaj, also 34, both deny murdering Bob Singh and causing grievous bodily harm to his friend Wayne Sykes. Artan also denies violent disorder.
The ethnic Albanians fled the country in a lorry the day after the attack but were brought back using European arrest warrants after Greater Manchester Police’s ‘cold case team picked up the file, the jury at Manchester Crown Court was told.
The court heard that the fatal attack on the father-of-two was mounted against a backdrop of ‘clan loyalty and loss of face’.
Prosecuting counsel Alistair Webster said these were ‘important issues’ in the Albanian community. He described the murder as ‘senseless and brutal’.
Artan and Emirjan, both of no fixed address, were said to be among a group of men summoned to the Burning Balti as ‘reinforcements’ after their friend and countryman Alfred Kurti came off worse in a scuffle with Bob Singh’s friends.
Hours earlier Bob Singh, from New Moston, had driven a group of pals – Jaswan Singh, Roy White, Wayne Sykes and Andrew Smith – into the city centre for drinks. At the end of the night out the men went to the Burning Balti.
After Alfred Kurti entered the takeaway, a row broke out. Kurti was said to have racially abused the white men in the group before being taken outside and headbutted by Wayne Sykes.
Bob Singh stayed out of the row throughout, the court heard and was in ‘every sense an innocent victim’ of the horrific violence that followed.
After Alfred Kurti rang for reinforcements Artan Hysaj drove Emirjan Hysaj and another man, Moraj Semaj, to the area. Emirjan Hysaj is said to have passed sticks to Alfred Kurti and Semaj before the group ran back to the takeaway in a bid to ‘mete out revenge’, Mr Webster said.
The jury heard Emirjan barged in and dealt Bob Singh a powerful blow to the side of the head which knocked him unconscious. Emirjan is then said to have hit Wayne Sykes on the back of his head.
While unconscious, Bob Singh’s head was stamped on and Wayne Sykes was whacked on the legs with a plank. Both men suffered fractured skulls.
Bob Singh died 16 days later in hospital while Wayne Sykes sustained bruising to the brain and has been left deaf in one ear. The jury was told that Semaj was convicted of murder in 2005. Alfred Kurti remains on the run.
After his arrest, Artan said: ‘I did not kill anybody, everybody was drunk but it was a terrible thing for everybody.’
Proceeding
