The seventh day of the trial commenced at a approximately 10:45 this morning. The man accused of murdering Keith Brown, Habib Khan was not required to give any more evidence. Instead the first person in the witness box to be questioned was Stoke on Trent Independent councillor Terry Follows who is the representative for Trentham and Hanford.
Councillor Follows told the court that he had known Mr Khan for many years and that he had always found him to be trustworthy and well respected within his own community. Councillor Follows explained that he was a plumber and owned a plumbing business which derived much of its trade from the Asian community. Cllr Fellows had fitted out the Normacott Mosque, which is close to the scene of the alleged murder.
Next in the witness box, just before 11am was Azir Habib Saddique, the son of Habib Khan. He stated he was born in Stoke-on-Trent, aged 24 and worked at Kebabworld in Longton. The court was told that he and his brother, together with his sister in law in the back of the car reversed onto Normacott Road then proceeded to go in the direction of Meir passing Keith Brown's vehicle.
Azir Saddique claimed that Mr Brown was standing by his gateway holding a brick in his hand. They went past the van up the street for a few yards until the driver of the car, his brother, braked heavily, he stated his surprise, wanted to say something to his brother but couldn't get the words out. His brother then reversed sharply stopping in the middle of the road and then got out of the car. He then went towards Mr Brown at the gate where Mr Brown was just standing.
Azir Saddique claimed he then got out of the car to assist his brother, because by this time Mr Brown had raised his arm and a scuffle had developed. It was claimed that Saddique then became involved in a scuffle. The prosecution claimed this was in fact not a true version of events as a video of the incident from Habib Khan's own security camera was played to the court.
The video, according to the prosecution, showed that Mr Brown was not at his gate but in fact walking down his path quite normally. The video, the court was told, also did not show that Keith Brown was holding a brick as was being claimed and that Mr Brown was shown to walk at a normal pace towards his gate as the car was reversing in the street.
When on bail, the court was told that Saddique breached his bail conditions by travelling to Pakistan. Whilst in Pakistan his solicitors sent him a written statement and was instructed by them to sign. According to the prosecution, Mr Siddique read it, understood it, signed it and sent it back to his solicitors in Stoke-on-Trent. It was alleged however that the statement which he had signed whilst in Pakistan did not correspond with the evidence he gave in court today.
That concluded the case for the prosecution, the judge then stated that the jury were to return at 10am on Wednesday morning estimating that he will start his summing up on Thursday.
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