Shocking CCTV footage has captured the chilling moment two young prisoners were seen SMIRKING as they calmly walked away after battering a vulnerable fellow inmate to death in a savage 37-second attack.
Ashirie Smith, 19, and Thierry Robinson, 21, launched the brutal 37-second attack at HMP Fosse Way in Leicestershire, on August 20 last year.
Smith was sentenced to life imprisonment to serve a minimum of 17.5 years yesterday after being convicted of the murder of 31-year-old Mahir Abdulrahman, who was discovered unresponsive in his cell with catastrophic head injuries.
CCTV captured the moment a topless Smith, and dressing-gown wearing Robinson entered Abdulrahman’s cell before walking out around 37 seconds later.
In disturbing footage that sealed their fate, the callous killers showed no remorse as they strolled away from their dying victim – with Smith stomped on 31-year-old Mahir Abdulrahman’s head and neck in the savage assault.
A female prison officer then entered the cell where she found Mahir Abdulraham. Paramedics rushed to the scene but Mahir Abdulrahman was pronounced deceased at the scene around an hour later.
VICTIM BEGGED TO BE MOVED
The tragedy unfolded after Mr Abdulrahman had asked a prison officer the day before he died if he could move cells because he did not feel safe.
He told her Mr Abdulrahman’s 35-week prison sentence for a sexual offence had led to other inmates “terrorising him for days”, the court heard.
The vulnerable prisoner, also known as Mahir Mohamed, was a 31-year-old Sudanese national who had been subjected to weeks of relentless bullying.
The court was told that in a phone conversation with his mother, Karim said Robinson and Smith had “gone in on” Mr Abdulrahman and that he “could have done something” to stop them but did not.
KETTLE ATTACK SPARKED REVENGE
The fatal confrontation was triggered after sustained harassment pushed Abdulrahman to breaking point. Mr Burrows said Smith and Robinson accepted they entered Mr Abdulrahman’s cell, but claimed they only wanted to speak to him about an incident the day before in which he had thrown water from a kettle on them.
But prosecutors revealed the true horror of what happened next.
Prosecution counsel Michael Burrows KC said Karim “kept watch” outside the cell, holding the door and knocking on it when a prison officer was near, while Robinson and Smith were inside attacking Mr Abdulrahman, stamping on and kicking his head and neck and causing a fatal bleed at the base of his brain.
BRUTAL INJURIES
A post mortem examination found that Mahir Abdulraham had suffered injuries including swelling to his right cheek and on the left side of his neck and deep bruising to his brain and facial tissue.
A post-mortem examination found multiple abrasions and bruising to Mr Abdulrahman’s head and neck that were consistent with an assault and fractures to the ribs at the back of his body which would have required force “at the severe end of the scale”, Mr Burrows told the jury.
The cause of death was determined as a sub arachnoid basal haemorrhage – bleeding to the area of the brain.
‘DROPPED ONE BODY’
In a shocking revelation, The jury was told that on November 25, after Smith had been moved to a different prison following the attack, he had “let slip” in anger what he is alleged to have done, telling a prison officer: “I’m in for murder, I have already dropped one body and I will take another.
Robinson and Smith had then entered the cell before exiting it around 37 seconds later. Smith was then seen to re-enter the cell and exit again shortly after.
In the half an hour after the attack, Mr Burrows said, all three defendants returned at different points to look into Mr Abdulrahman’s cell and on two occasions, other inmates threw water at him to see if it would “jolt him back to life”.
JUSTICE SERVED
Following a trial at Leicester Crown Court, Thierry Robinson, 21, was found not guilty of murder but found guilty of the manslaughter of Mahir Abdulrahman following the trial. He was sentenced to 11 years imprisonment.
A third defendant Shaan Karim, 38, was found not guilty of murder and not guilty of manslaughter.
In another phone call to his mother about the attack, Mr Karim swore and called the other two defendants “animals”, and added: “There’s nothing to the guy and they’ve been bullying him for days. If you’re going to get the guy back, throw one or two punches and walk away, don’t go in on him, don’t stamp on him.
Detective Inspector Mark Parish, from the East Midlands Special Operations Unit, said: “The injuries suffered by Mahir Abdulrahman showed a serious, sustained attack had taken place which ultimately led to his death.
BRITAIN’S NEWEST PRISON
The shocking murder took place at HMP Fosse Way – Britain’s “greenest ever” prison. It has been compared to a hotel, and its cells have barless windows and computers that double as TVs.
HMP Fosse Way is the newest jail in England, opened in June 2023. The state-of-the-art facility was meant to represent the future of rehabilitation.
Instead, it became the scene of one of the most callous prison murders in recent memory – with two teenage killers showing no remorse as they walked away from their dying victim.
Serco Prison Director Wyn Jones said: “Any death in prison is a tragedy but the murder of Mr Abdulrahman was a heinous act. “My thoughts remain with his family and those affected by his untimely death.
