Breaking Paranoid schizophrenic who set alight to two elderly worshippers as they walked home from mosques in London and Birmingham after dousing them in petrol is sentenced to indefinite hospital order EnglishHeadline

A paranoid schizophrenic who doused aged worshippers in petrol earlier than setting them alight in two separate assaults has been handed an indefinite hospital order. 

Mohammed Abbkr, 29, of Edgbaston, Birmingham, attacked Hashi Odowa, 82, and 70-year-old Mohammed Rayaz as they walked house from worshipping at their native mosques 120 miles aside in London and Birmingham.

Abbkr, who was struggling ‘a number of psychological sickness’ on the time of the assaults, claimed he believed folks possessed by evil spirits had been ‘controlling him via magic’.

When he was discovered responsible to 2 counts of tried homicide in November final 12 months, West Midlands Police revealed how he left his victims with ‘long-lasting bodily accidents and important psychological trauma’.

Terrifying CCTV footage captured him stalking his aged victims with lighter fluid in his rucksack earlier than approaching them. {A photograph} launched of Mr Rayaz revealed horrific burns to his face and neck.

Mohammed Abbkr, 29, was discovered responsible of two counts of tried homicide at Birmingham Crown Courtroom 

That is the heartbreaking picture the household of devoted grandfather Mohammed Rayaz need the world to see

Burnt clothes belonging to Mr Rayaz after the horrific assault, in a photograph issued by police

Surprising photographs of Mr Rayaz’s household taken 24 hours after the household man was focused confirmed him mendacity at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham with bandages overlaying his wounds. 

On the time the photograph was taken, the pensioner was unable to open his eyes, hear or converse. When he ultimately regained power, the primary query he requested his son was: ‘Why did he assault me? I did not do something to him.’ 

Abbkr had come to the UK from Sudan in 2017 searching for asylum earlier than being granted indefinite depart to stay in 2019. Mr Rayaz’s sons beforehand questioned why the UK Authorities allowed him to say.  

‘All of us blame the Authorities and the Dwelling Workplace,’ his son Mohammed stated. ‘They need to have carried out their checks.’ 

The daddy-of-two spent 4 weeks in hospital, returning weekly to get his bandages modified as he continues the grueling battle to get again to full well being. Docs stated it should take round two years for his pores and skin to completely heal.

He should keep out of UV gentle and put on a cap. He has since been recognized with PTSD and despair.

Sentencing Abbkr on Wednesday, Choose Melbourne Inman KC  stated: ‘The character of every assault was equivalent. You threw petrol over your victims after which set them alight – the assaults had been horrific.

‘The 2 victims on this case had been, on any rational view, chosen at random,’ the choose added. ‘You, nonetheless, genuinely believed every of them was a type of attempting to take management of you.

‘I’m wholly happy that you just dedicated each of those offences at a time while you had been struggling a extreme psychological sickness.’

The Recorder of Birmingham advised the defendent it was ‘clear past doubt that you just signify a really nice hazard to members of the general public.’ He added it was additionally clear that ‘how lengthy you proceed to signify such a hazard can’t be decided now’.

The court docket heard Abbkr had been on the utmost dosage of 1 drug, however his signs have endured and he has now been switched to a different drug.

The choose stated it was ‘extremely doubtless’ Abbkr would require life-long therapy for his schizophrenia. He stated it was clear it might be a ‘very very long time’ earlier than Abbkr could be thought-about for launch, ‘ought to that day ever come up’.

He might be detained at a high-security hospital for therapy, and if ultimately assessed as not posing a danger to the general public, can solely be launched with the settlement of the Secretary of State for Justice. 

Abbkr, who’s being handled at Ashworth excessive safety hospital in Merseyside, watched the proceedings by video-link.

Abbkr was discovered responsible of making an attempt to homicide Hashi Odowa, 82, (pictured) and Mr Rayaz, 70, in separate assaults earlier this 12 months

Talking beforehand, the son of certainly one of his victims stated: ‘He isn’t the identical as he was mentally and bodily. We hope that point will heal and that the attacker will get a very long time in jail.

‘As a household, it has affected three generations – from grandfather, father to grandchildren. As a household we’re grateful to the jury and the general public for his or her help and well-wishers. However this can stick with us all of our lives.’

Mr Rayaz, a grandfather and devoted Muslim, had accomplished his sundown prayers at Dudley Street mosque on March 20 final 12 months and determined to remain behind to learn extra of the Quran on the eve of Ramadan. 

But unbeknownst to him, Mr Rayaz was being watched intensely by Abbkr. The legal stalked Mr Rayaz as he left the mosque earlier than stopping to ask his sufferer whether or not he spoke Arabic. 

Pictured: Mr Rayaz, who was set alight as he left a mosque in March this 12 months and has suffered life-changing accidents

MAbbkr, 29, was discovered responsible of two counts of tried homicide at Birmingham Crown Courtroom right this moment after setting fireplace to aged worshippers. Abbkr is pictured in a court docket sketch in October

When Mr Rayaz tells him he speaks Urdu and Punjabi, he can then be seen being sprayed with gas from a bottle earlier than being engulfed in a ball of flames. 

The court docket heard Mr Rayaz managed to stumble to his son’s home close by shouting: ‘Son, son, somebody’s put me on fireplace.’

Mr Rayaz, a retired manufacturing facility employee, wanted pores and skin grafts to his face and fingers and could also be left with everlasting patching to his face.

The callous assault got here a month after the 29-year-old had travelled to London the place he additionally doused Mr Odowa in petrol earlier than setting him on fireplace as he left prayers on the West London Islamic Centre in Ealing. 

Mr Odowa had raised his hand when the petrol was thrown on him as he made his approach to a neighbour’s automotive, struggling minor burn accidents to his ear and hand.

The paranoid schizophrenic focused Mr Odowa in London after he didn’t recognise him, telling him – ‘I swear within the identify of Allah you’ll know me.’ 

After his arrest, Akkbr was recognized as affected by paranoid schizophrenia involving persecutory and spiritual delusions. 

Following his trial Choose Melbourne Inman KC the Recorder of Birmingham, advised the court docket he wished to listen to additional psychiatric proof earlier than contemplating a proposal to condemn Abbkr, of Edgbaston, to a hospital order.

In police interview, Mr Rayaz advised how he thought he was going to die after being lined with a light-weight colored liquid and having a lighter held to his neck.

He stated: ‘I by no means noticed him come up behind me or from the appropriate or left He got here in entrance of me and began to assault me. I attempted to hold on. He had one thing in his hand and I puzzled whether or not it was a knife and he was going to assault me with a knife.

‘He simply shortly threw one thing on me. The flames have gone up. I didn’t know what to do. I simply tried to drag off my clothes. I used to be screaming for assist however no person got here.’

Video performed to the jury throughout the trial at Birmingham Crown Courtroom has now been launched by West Midlands Police. It reveals Mohammad Abbkr arriving and praying at West London Islamic Centre, in Ealing, forward of the primary incident on February 27 2023

CCTV footage from February 27 final 12 months reveals Abbkr leaving the West Ealing Islamic Centre, London, after a prayer service and earlier than his assault on Mr Odowa

Abbkr, who battles with paranoid schizophrenia, allegedly focused Mr Odowa when he didn’t recognise him, telling him: ‘I swear within the identify of Allah you’ll know me’

As he leaves the mosque a fireball could be seen within the distance as Mr Odowa was set alight, inflicting burns to his ears and fingers

His son Mohammed beforehand advised of how his father had stored a beard for 20 years after finishing Hajj – a spiritual pilgrimage. 

‘On that night seeing my father’s stunning white beard all burnt off, eyes and lips swollen up, fingers burnt and seeing him half bare with no garments on the higher physique was only a very traumatic and life altering second,’ he stated. 

‘No phrases can describe that second the feelings which I used to be feeling, I felt so helpless and weak, no son or daughter ought to see their father or mom in that state.

‘The illegal use of violence and intimidation on two aged folks, in two completely different cities after Islamic prayers and after two separate mosques in my opinion had been all deliberate prematurely and carried out with precision with no concern if the sufferer lives or dies. 

Mohammed added that his aged mom was ‘nonetheless traumatised’ and fears the attacker ‘might be launched early’ and are available again to ‘end the job’ or assault the remainder of the household.  

His brother Adnaan added: ‘Seeing the CCTV video of my dad being set on fireplace, his screams of ache after which reliving the visuals to the build-up of the assault after which after the assault might be with me perpetually. 

‘I might describe the attacker as a coward, this coward doesn’t belong to any faith, society and even humanity.

Abbkr additionally sprayed petrol on Mr Rayaz and left him ‘engulfed in flames from head to foot’ as a result of he didn’t converse Arabic, jurors had been advised

Abbkr admitted being the individual answerable for setting each males alight however denied tried homicide and administering a harmful factor with intent to hazard life

Mr Rayaz described in his police interview being attacked as he left Dudley Street mosque, the place he had been an everyday for 15 years. He stated: ‘I by no means noticed him come up behind me or from the appropriate or left. He got here in entrance of me and began to assault me. I attempted to hold on’

‘This affect of feelings which I’ve shared with you can be felt by me and my household for a really very long time to return and can stay with me for the remainder of my life.’

Describing the assault that came about month earlier, Mr Odowa stated: ‘He approached me from the appropriate. I didn’t know the place he got here from. He walked beside me.

‘He requested me my identify in English. I stated why do you need to know my identify. He requested me ‘Do you not recognise me?’ I had by no means seen him in my life. The person stated in Arabic ‘I swear within the identify of Allah within the identify of God you’ll know me’.

‘I felt like he wished to threaten me. The person then bought nearer to me. I noticed him shake the bottle. He was concentrating on my face after which he poured the petrol from high down. I put my hand as much as my face.

‘I used to be my neighbour. I used to be fortunate. Then he lit the flame it caught the left aspect of my face. I have no idea what he used to start out the hearth with. I keep in mind an enormous flame.

Mr Rayaz, 70, is pictured arriving for a prayer service on the Dudley Street Mosque

Abbkr (crimson arrow) is pictured following Mr Rayaz (blue arrow) after leaving a prayer service on the Dudley Street Mosque

CCTV footage reveals Abbkr (crimson arrow) following Mr Rayaz (blue arrow), 70 after leaving a prayer service on the Dudley Street Mosque

A photograph of the backpack, which was seized by police, reveals the contents of the bag which embody lighter fluid in a plastic water bottle, a lighter with a hashish leaf design and  a pair of blades

‘I keep in mind eradicating my jacket to get the flames off. My vest was on fireplace and I took it off. That’s once I realised god had saved me. There have been many individuals on the street. They had been scared they usually ran away.

‘I attempted to seize the person however couldn’t. He was gone. I heard my neighbour shouting to name the police. An ambulance got here and that was the primary time I felt the ache.’

All through his Akkbr’s trial, prosecutor Nicholas de la Poer KC stated ‘the defendant meant to kill Mr Odowa and Mr Rayaz when he attacked them’.

He added: ‘The defendant has denied this and on his behalf it’s contended that he was affected by delusions on the time and had not meant to kill a human being.

‘Mr Rayaz survived the defendant’s assault however he was much less lucky than Mr Odowa.

‘He suffered extra critical burns, accidents significantly to his head. He was in hospital for plenty of weeks following the assault.

‘It’s the prosecution case that when the defendant threw petrol on Mr Rayaz and set fireplace to him after which added additional petrol to the flames, he was meaning to kill him.’

The court docket heard there was no proof Abbkr – who had no earlier convictions or historical past of violence – held extremist views. The choose stated the defendant wouldn’t have dedicated the crime if it wasn’t for his sickness.

In sufferer affect statements learn to the court docket earlier, Mr Rayaz’s household stated docs had advised them it’d take the pensioner three years to completely get well from the assault. 

They stated his three-year-old granddaughter requested if he was going to be harm once more every time she heard a siren. 

The son of Mr Odowa stated he nonetheless awoke screaming about being set on fireplace, was anxious in public and solely went to the mosque sometimes.