'I threw stone but didn't hit minibus driver'

A TEENAGER accused of a brutal murder told a court he played no part in the violence.

Christopher Murphy, 18, is on trial for the murder of Birkby taxi driver Mohammad Parvaiz at Field Head in Golcar on July 22.

Murphy, along with 18-year-old Graeme Slavin, two 17-year-olds and a 16-year-old who can't be named, deny murder.

A sixth defendant, 19-year-old Michael Hand, was not in Leeds Crown Court after changing his plea to guilty two weeks ago.

Giving evidence on the first day of the defence case, Murphy admitted vandalising the father-of-three's taxi, but denied attacking him.

He said: "I played no part in the violence towards Mr Parvaiz."

Murphy explained how he and the other five defendants had ambushed the minibus taxi after calling it to Field Head.

He said: "I threw a stone with my right hand through the middle near-side window and another at the passenger window, then I threw another at the windscreen."

Murphy said he saw one of the 17-year-olds throw a stone at the rear near-side window and then run off.

And speaking of the 16-year-old accused, Murphy said: "He was behind me and to my right.

"I saw a stone coming from his direction and hit the back of the taxi but I didn't see him in the immediate vicinity of the vehicle."

But when Murphy moved around to the driver's side of the cab, he saw the remaining three defendants - Slavin, Hand and the other 17-year-old.

Murphy said: "I saw Mr Parvaiz underneath the door lying parallel to his cab with his head towards the front of the car.

"I saw Hand kicking him in the head at least three times.

"Slavin and the 17-year-old were near Mr Parvaiz's feet but I didn't see them do anything to him."

Murphy admitted taking the taxi driver's watch from the ground but denied pulling it off his wrist.

The defendant also denied that he had stolen £80 from inside the cab.

Murphy said all the defendants except the 16-year-old met up outside the Wheel Inn afterwards along with three girls they had been drinking with before the attack.

But he denied allegations made earlier in the trial that he had boasted about stamping on Mr Parvaiz's head and of having blood on his footwear.

Murphy, who was homeless at the time, then split up from the rest of the group and slept rough at Golcar reservoir.

The following day Murphy and the 16-year-old - the only two accused who had not been arrested - met at a mutual friend's house.

Murphy said: "I told him it would look better if we said that we had run off together."

He also asked the friend whose house it was for a change of clothes and shoes.

He said: "There had been so much blood on the floor that I might have stepped in it."

But Murphy denied that he also asked for some lighter fluid.

After searching the Yellow Pages and the internet, Murphy and his girlfriend decided to head to the White House Hotel in Slaithwaite.

He said: "I wanted to lay low for a few days and not sleep on the streets."

But two days later on Tuesday, July 25, he returned to Huddersfield and reported to a police station for arrest after contacting a solicitor.

When questioned the following day he denied playing any part in the attack, claiming to have been standing with a group of girls nearby at the time, but Murphy admitted: "I repeatedly lied to police because I was scared.

" What I said was a pack of lies."

And the defendant also admitted that his defence statement of November 27 was also untrue - since it claimed that Slavin and one of the 17-year-old defendants had joined Hand in kicking Mr Parvaiz.

Earlier Murphy told how a month before the murder a group of Asians had travelled to Slavin's flat in a Lockwoods Taxi minibus and vandalised his scooter.

Mr Parvaiz is believed to have been the driver on that occasion.

But Murphy said: "There was no plan to inflict violence on the taxi driver.

"I didn't hold Mohammad Parvaiz responsible for what happened to my scooter."

The trial continues.