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UK teens jailed for race murder
20/02/2007 23:38 - (SA)
London - A gang of white teenagers were
jailed for almost 80 years on Tuesday for the racist murder of
an Asian taxi driver beaten to death in Huddersfield last year.
Mohammad Parvaiz, a 41-year-old father of three, was killed
last July after he responded to what he believed to be a routine
request for a taxi. He suffered 23 separate injuries in the
attack.
Christopher Murphy was given a minimum jail term of 25 years
while the judge at Leeds Crown Court handed down a minimum
21-year sentence to Michael Hand.
Graeme Slavin and Steven Utley were jailed for a minimum of
17 years.
Police said the main motivation for the attack was revenge
for an incident that had occurred a few weeks earlier when
Murphy's scooter had been damaged after a confrontation with a
group of Asian youths.
The gang mistakenly thought Parvaiz had been involved in
this because he had been hired to drop off the Asian youths.
Detective superintendent Tim Forber, who led the police
investigation, said he agreed with the judge's assessment that
the attacks were "savage beyond belief".
"This was a pre-meditated plan, it was a savage attack, it
was about a specific intent for retribution," he told reporters.
"I don't think I have ever come across anything so utterly
mindless.
He also paid tribute to the dignity the victim's widow.
"She is a very, very strong woman but her life has been
absolutely devastated and I don't think she will get over it."
- Reuters
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