Murder of Thomas Roberts

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On 12 March 2022, 21-year-old Thomas Roberts, from Bournemouth, Dorset, England, was murdered by Lawangeen Abdulrahimzai. Roberts was stabbed by Abdulrahimzai during an argument between Abdulrahimzai and Robert's friend over an e-scooter in Bournemouth Town Centre.

Abdulrahimzai admitted manslaughter, but denied murder. On 23 January he was convicted of murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 29 years.^[1][2][3]

Background[edit]

Thomas Roberts[edit]

Thomas George Philip Roberts was a 21-year-old man from Bournemouth, Dorset. Growing up, he was a Sea Scout. Roberts was a qualified precision engineer. He was described as an 'active sportsman', enjoying mountain biking and boxing, being a member of Christchurch Boxing Club. In his spare time, Roberts was a drum and bass DJ. Performing under the name ‘Nomad’, he was described as “one of the best up and coming artists the south had to offer”. Roberts was an aspiring Royal Marine, having completed an application form.^[4][5][6]

Lawangeen Abdulrahimzai[edit]

Lawangeen Abdulrahimzai was born in Afghanistan in 2001. From approximately aged four, he played cricket and growing up, he used train to box with his father. Abdulrahimzai's parents sold alcohol that they brewed on the black market, with Abdulrahimzai delivering the alcohol.^[7] Abdulrahimzai's parents were killed by the Taliban, who placed bombs outside their homes. They thought that Abdulrahimzai's father was working with the United States, as well as for illegally selling alcohol.^[8] Abdulrahimzai stated that he was tortured by the Taliban after being kidnapped.^[9] He stated the had scars from this, having been stabbed 28 times, with injuries inflicted by the butts of rifles and knives.^[9] Abdulrahimzai was stabbed four times under his arms as well as being shot in the leg by the Taliban. After being thrown to the side of a road, Abdulrahimzai's uncle arranged for him to be taken from Afghanistan to Pakistan, Iran and other countries.^[8]

At some time before October 2015, Abdulrahimzai left Afghanistan, moving illegally through many international borders, initially through Pakistan and Iran before moving between Norway, Italy, before being in Serbia in October 2015.^[7][10] By October 29, 2015, Abdulrahimzai was in Norway, where authorities took his fingerprints.^[7] Abdulrahimzai stated he got from Serbia to Norway by walking or in the back of cars.^[8] By July 2016, after leaving Norway, Abdulrahimzai was in Italy. From here, he returned to Serbia, recorded as being there on 26 June 2017, using a different name.^[7][8]

On 31 July 2018, Abdulrahimzai used a Kalashnikov rifle to shoot dead two Afghan men, for which he was convicted in absentia of two counts of murder.^[10][11] After leaving Serbia, he returned to Norway in October 2018.^[7] In 2019 he made a claim for asylum in Norway.^[10][11] During December 2019, it was rejected; during the same month he illegally entered the United Kingdom via the Port of Poole, where he claimed asylum, pretending in a Home Office interview to be an unaccompanied 14-year-old. He was issued a date of birth of 2005, when in fact, after his age was later determined, he was aged 18.^{[6][7][8][10][11][12]}

He moved to Poole, Dorset, England, where he was put into foster care.^[11] Abdulrahimzai played cricket for Winton, as well as attending a boxing club.^[8] Abdulrahimzai got involved in organised street fighting whereby he was paid £100 for 10 minutes of fighting without gloves.^[8] He reportedly got into fights at school and in public and Abdulrahimzai stated that he was racially abused and physically assaulted.^[9]

His foster mother caught Abdulrahimzai with a knife, which she took from him before ensuring that the knives in the house were locked away. She stated that Abdulrahimzai thought it was 'his right to carry a knife to defend himself'.^[7]

He had continued to carry a knife despite police warnings.^[6][8] In November 2020, Abdulrahimzai was also the victim of an assault in King's Park, Bournemouth in whereby he was bitten, as well as being stabbed to his eyebrow and punched by lots of people. He said that he had been chased by people with machetes in the same park. Abdulrahimzai stated that he reported every assault to police, however, that they did not help him. Police had not been able to investigate the King's Park assault, as Abdulrahimzai would not provide details of one of the people who punched him.^[8]

In December 2020, Abdulrahimzai carried a knife whilst out shopping, as he was scared for his life after being tortured in Afghanistan and from being attacked since being in the UK.^[8]

His first foster mother described Abdulrahimzai as a 'very troubled individual', stating how he had 'seen things he should never have seen', growing up in 'a world at war' and that 'his default is to fight.' She described Abdulrahimzai's behaviour as 'a bit Jekyll and Hyde' towards the end of his time with her family. She described how his mood could go 'from 0 to 100 almost instantly' and how he had made her adult daughter cry.^[7]

In August 2021, Abdulrahimzai had a 'big disagreement' with his foster mother, in which police attended. After this, he moved to a new foster family.^[7] Abdulrahimzai was living in hostels by March 2022.^[8]

Incident[edit]

Roberts was out in Bournemouth town centre with friends on Friday 11 March 2022. He visited various pubs and venues across the town. During the early hours of Saturday 12 March, two of his friends went home, but Roberts and his friend James Medway decided to stay out. They were seen on CCTV to leave the For Your Eyes Only venue on Old Christchurch Road near to the corner of Fir Vale Road, where their plan was to get some food before getting a taxi home.^[13]

Abdulrahimzai was in Bournemouth Town Centre in the area of Fir Vale Road with a friend at approximately 3am.^[13] He was in possession of a knife, which he later stated was because he 'was in fear'.^[8] At 3:08am, Abdulrahimzai went into the London Market shop on Old Christchurch Road, buying a Monster energy drink and Bounty chocolate bar, before standing outside Camel bar at 3:10am (Abdulrahimzai had a fake ID taken off him by security at the venue due to it not having the right numbers on it).^[8] It was reported that for around an hour, Abdulrahimzai had been abusing door staff at the bar).^[13] Prior to Robert's murder, Abdulrahimzai was involved in an argument with two males, unrelated to Roberts, whereby Abdulrahimzai tried to headbutt someone.^[6][13]

At 4:37am, Abdulrahimzai was seen riding on a hired Beryl e-scooter and getting off it, leaving it outside of a Subway.^[14][13]

Roberts and Medway were walking to a taxi rank along Old Christchurch Road.^[13] At 4.39am, as they were walking past the Wild Fish and Chip Shop, Medway gestured to the e-scooter that was leaning against the window of a Subway, stating to Roberts they could take that instead of getting a taxi.^[5] At approximately 4:40am, as Medway stepped either side of the scooter, he and Roberts were approached by Abdulrahimzai.^[13][15] Abdulrahimzai argued with Medway, claiming that the e-scooter was his. Abdulrahimazai was aggressive to Roberts, with Roberts intervening in the argument as a 'peacemaker'. Roberts tried to calm the situation down, telling Abdulrahimzai 'relax, there's no problem here'. Abdulrahimzai turned his attention away from Medway to Roberts, being threatening to him. At one occasion, he slapped Abdulrahimzai in the face.^[5][14][6]

In response to this, at approximately 4:44am, Abdulrahimzai produced a 10-inch, gold-handled knife that he had been carrying in a sheath on the right side of his body in a waistband of two pairs of trousers he was wearing, lunged towards and then stabbed Roberts twice, in the chest and abdomen. Roberts remained on his feet, whilst Abdulrahimzai ran onto Horseshoe Common. Medway asked Roberts if he was ok, before he pursued Abdulrahimzai, to get the knife off him. After losing track of Abdulrahimzai and not being able to reach him, Medway returned to Roberts.^{[5][6][8][13][15][excessive citations]}

At some stage, Abdulrahimzai dug a hole in the ground and buried the knife in some bushes, later burning the clothes he was wearing.^[8]

Roberts had collapsed and was attended to by members of the public, who called an ambulance, trying to manage the wounds that were bleeding profusely. Police were first to arrive and conducted CPR. When an ambulance arrived, Roberts was unconscious and in cardiac arrest.

Roberts was rushed to Poole Hospital, receiving immediate surgery. He continued to go into cardiac arrest a number of times. However, no medical intervention could save Roberts from the wounds he had received (which was later backed up by the pathologist), with unsurvivable blood loss. At 8:10am on Sunday 13 March, Roberts was pronounced dead during surgery at hospital.^{[5][6][13][7][16]}

From meeting to Roberts being stabbed, the incident lasted 26 seconds.^[6]

Investigation and legal proceedings[edit]

Police investigation[edit]

On the morning of March 12, Abdulrahimzai's phone, an Apple iPhone 6s, was located by police searching Horseshoe Common, which he had dropped when running from the scene.^[8][15][7] From this, officer's traced Abdulrahimzai's address at Quay Foyer in Poole, Dorset, whereby firearms officers attended and arrested Abdulrahimzai on suspicion of murder just after midnight March 13.^{[8][14][15][6]}

Abdulrahimzai was taken to Bournemouth Custody at Bournemouth Police Station. As he was booked into police custody, Abdulrahimzai said he felt 'guilty', after asked how he was feeling. The following day during an interview, it was established that he felt guilty in relation to thinking what his foster family would think.^[7]

During several police interviews, Abdulrahimzai provided no comment, which he said he did on advice from his solicitor.^[8][13]

Abdulrahimzai's age was not certain, however, assessments determined he was aged 20-years-old at the time of the incident.^[6]

The knife that was used was never recovered.^[8]

Post-mortem and inquest[edit]

Dr Amanda Jeffery conducted a post-mortem on Roberts at Holly Tree Lodge, Boscombe.^[16] She described that Roberts had received ‘sharp-force stab wounds’, which were ‘penetrating wounds caused by a sharp bladed object’.^[7]

Roberts upper wound to his chest was 4 centimetres in length at the skin. The knife went through Roberts chest wall, through skin and muscle, before entering the chest cavity, damaging Roberts ribs, as it passed between the seventh and eighth rib. The defect in Roberts’ ribs was 2.5 centimetres wide. Roberts’ left lobe of his left lung was cut, after the blade cut across the diaphragm. The blade defected into the side of the sack surrounding the heart. The rack of the wound was 10 centimetres from the skin to the deepest part of the injury. Dr Jeffery stated that the damage to the ribs indicated that the minimum amount of force used was ‘moderate’ force, on a scale of mild, moderate and severe.^[7]

Roberts lower wound to his abdomen was 3.5 centimetres in length. The blade went through the torso muscles, into the back of the abdomen below the rib cage. The lower part of Roberts’ left kidney was sliced across on the lower part and the left renal vein was opened, before the blade went into the space behind the stomach. The blade left a ‘small nick’ in one of the loops of the small bowel. The length of this wound track was similar to Roberts’ other wound, however, the minimum amount of force used, was ‘mild’. However, Dr Jeffery stated that ‘greater forces may have been involved’.^[7]

The pathologist reported that the knife must have been ’10 centimetres or more in length, with 3.5 to 4 centimetres wide at the 10-centimetre point in length’. Dr Jeffery stated how both injuries suggested the blade had ‘one cutting edge and one blunt edge’.^[7]

On March 21, 2022, an inquest opened into Roberts' death at Bournemouth Coroner's Court, led by Senior coroner for Dorset, Rachael Griffin, but was suspended due to the ongoing police investigation.^[16]

Charge and remand in custody[edit]

On Tuesday 15 March 2022, Abdulrahimzai was charged with murder. He was remanded in custody after appearing at Poole Magistrates Court on 16 March.^[17] On March 17, Abdulrahimzai appeared at a short hearing occurred at Winchester Crown Court via video link from Feltham Young Offenders Institution, whereby Judge Angela Morris set a plea and trial preparation hearing was set for June 9.^[16]

On June 9, Abdulrahimzai pleaded not guilty to murder, pleading guilty to manslaughter.^[16]

Trial[edit]

Abdulrahimzai's trial started on 11 January 2023 at Salisbury Crown Court.^[18] The presiding judge was Judge Paul Dudgale. Nic Lobbenberg KC and Ellie Fargin as his junior prosecuted, whilst Jo Martin KC and her junior Nick Robinson were defending.^[13]

Opening the prosecution case, Mr Lobbenberg KC explained to the jury that Abdulrahimzai had already pleaded guilty to manslaughter. He stated that although Abdulrahimzai accepted he'd killed Roberts, the Crown said it was murder and it was ‘about the circumstances’, with the Crown to prove the allegation of murder.^[13] Mr Lobbenberg KC stated that the first issue was ‘intent’, with the second issue about ‘loss of control’ of Abdulrahimzai.^[13]

Mr Lobbenberg KC told the jury that Robert's body had no defence injuries. He explained that one of Robert's lungs and the left ventricle of the heart was damaged by the stab wound to his chest.^[13]

Giving evidence, Abdulrahimzai admitted stabbing Roberts, however, did not intend to kill him or cause him really serious harm.^[8] Abdulrahimzai stated that he told Medway to get off the scooter, before Medway 'tried to act violent'.^[8] He explained how Roberts slapped him, before punching him on the nose. Abdulrahimzai told the court that Medway and Roberts looked each other in the eyes and that this scared him. He stated that he 'lost control' and 'instinctively' stabbed Roberts. He said that 'the terrorists have a lot of people involved in what they do', believing that Medway and Roberts were there to kill him. Abdulrahimzai stated that he did not know Roberts was hurt and stated that the only reason he ran was because he was being chased by Medway, who he thought was in possession of a bottle (Medway was in fact carrying his trainers, after his laces were undone before running after Abdulrahimzai).^[8] He stated after running off, he went to a park in the Charminster area and cried about the situation.

Abdulrahimzai stated that he got the knife from a friend and that when he was previously photographed with a knife, that it was the knife that he used to stab Roberts. He remarked that the image was on TikTok to 'try and get some followers'.^[8] Abdulrahimzai stated he carried a knife for his 'safety' and it was the only way to save himself, as he had not got help from the police. He stated that he would get the knife out if people from 'back home' were behind him.^[8]

It was reported that Abdulrahimzai experienced nightmares related to the Taliban being ‘out to kill him’. One report stated that Abdulrahimzai suffered flashbacks which made it ‘hard for him to know if he is in the past or present’.A report from the Child And Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) from 3 August 2021 found areas of need included flashbacks and trust issues and also mentioned that Abdulrahimzai's mood could change. The report also mentioned that Abdulrahimzai was ‘very vigilant’ and thought that ‘he is better than everyone’.^[9]

A forensic psychiatrist, Dr Gauruv Malhan, gave evidence stating he did not feel that Abdulrahimzai had Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or complex PTSD, but that Abdulrahimzai had traits of both. Dr Malhan stated that Abdulrahimzai met the diagnostic criteria for Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and met some, but not all diagnostic criteria for dissocial personality disorder.^[9]

Verdict and sentencing[edit]

Following a two-week trial, the jury returned a majority verdict of 10 to 2, finding Abdulrahimzai guilty of murder. 25 years was agreed as the starting point for the minimum term.^[6]

After Abdulrahimzai's guilty verdict to the murder of Robert's, the court were told that Abdulrahimzai was previously convicted of murder, having killed two people in Serbia with a Kalashnikov rifle on July 31, 2018. Abdulrahimzai had been using the name Huan Yasin and was wanted by Serbian authorities. It was thought that the previous murders were related to the people trafficking business. Abdulrahimzai was given a 20-year prison term in his absence.^[19] As the previous murders occurred outside the UK or an EU country, legally, they were not ‘qualifying offences’. However, they could be aggravating features and Judge Dugdale confirmed that he had to take the previous conviction into account.^[6]

On Wednesday 25 January 2023, Abdulrahimzai was sentenced to life imprisonment, with a minimum term of 29 years. Judge Dudgale told Abdulrahimzai that he acted with "unjustified extreme violence".^[20]

Aftermath[edit]

Government and Council response[edit]

Prior to Abdulrahimzai's sentencing, in response to a question in the House of Commons from Bournemouth East MP Tobias Ellwood, Robert Jenrick, Home Office minister, explained there would be a government investigation to establish the "full circumstances surrounding the case".^[20] After Bournemouth West MP Conor Burns raised the case in Commons, Jenrick later added that Abdulrahimzai could be deported at the end of his sentence.^[21]

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council released a statement that said local communities "are not at risk from asylum seekers".^[20]

Pre-inquest review into Roberts' death[edit]

A pre-inquest review into Roberts' death was held on 9 August 2023. The inquest heard how Abdulrahimzai was referred to the Home Office's anti-terrorism programme, Prevent, after there were concerns of him being susceptible to terrorism. A review was launched into Abdulrahimzai's referral to the programme.^[19]

A review that was commissioned into the Home Office's role in processing Abdulrahimzai's immigration status had been completed, but would remain confidential internally due to keeping immigration procedures restricted which were described as 'highly sensitive'.^[19]

The Home Office were criticised by Coroner Rachael Griffin as Roberts' father, Philip, had not received any contact about the reviews on Abdulrahimzai or the Home Office's involvement. He asked Griffin to check with Dorset Police about previous reports they had received regarding Abdulrahimzai being in possession of a knife days before Roberts' murder.^[19]

Griffin asked Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council to provide information as to their age assessment checks on Abdulrahimzai, as well as asking Dorset Police for files from the investigations, including any internal review.^[19]

The inquest into Roberts' death was adjourned until a later hearing, scheduled for 9 January 2024.^[19]

References[edit]