Man accused of Gurmail Singh murder says group were not capable of robbery

A MAN accused of murdering Huddersfield shopkeeper Gurmail Singh has told a jury that he thought the young men he was with were incapable of carrying out a robbery.

Umare Aslam, 20, claimed he knew nothing about a plan to steal from the 63-year-old’s Cowcliffe store until he got out of a taxi nearby last February.

And he said he initially refused to take part in the offence.

But he told a jury at Bradford Crown Court how he saw one friend hitting the shopkeeper with a bottle and another hit Mr Singh in the face.

Aslam told the court yesterday that he was told they were going to a girl’s home in the Fixby area that night and it was only when they got out of the taxi that teenager Rehman Afzal said: “Let’s do a ‘raise’.”

“‘Did you know what he meant by that?” asked Aslam’s barrister Peter Birkett QC.

“Yes ... stealing from a shop,” replied Aslam.

Aslam had travelled to the area with Afzal, another teenager Nabeel Shafi and Muawaz Khalid, but he said he told the others that he was not going to rob anyone.

“I shook everyone’s hand and said I’m going home,” Aslam told the jury.

But he said Shafi told him to stop being a bitch and after he initially walked away he came back and agreed to be a look-out.

Aslam said he didn’t know why he had agreed to do that and said he did not want a robbery to take place.

“Did you believe then that a robbery was going to actually take place?” asked Mr Birkett.

“No I didn’t,” said Aslam.

He said he did not think the others with him were capable of doing a robbery adding: “They looked like little kids to me.”

Aslam claimed that after the others went into the shop he walked up the steps because he was getting nervous and saw Afzal punching the shopkeeper in the face.

He said he went a few steps into the shop and grabbed hold of Afzal, telling the group to get out because there was someone outside.

Aslam claimed to have seen Shafi hit the shopkeeper once on the head with a bottle.

He said he then ran off with Afzal.

Aslam, of Coniston Avenue, Dalton; Khalid, 20, of Blackmoorfoot Road, Crosland Moor; Shafi, 18, of Park Hill, Bradley; 18-year-old Afzal, of Jacinth Court, Fartown; and 18-year-old Shoaib Khan, of Calton Street, Hillhouse, all deny murdering Mr Singh.

Afzal and Shafi have pleaded guilty to robbery, but that charge is denied by the other three defendants.

Khan has admitted a charge of assisting an offender.

The trial continues.