Man accused of stabbing teen killer to fight charges
Rex Martinich |
A man accused of stabbing his brother’s teenage murderer as he was about to be sentenced in court will contest his charges, his solicitor has said.
Police allege Jamal Ahmed Iyow on March 31 took a pen from the solicitor’s bar table in the Queensland Supreme Court and stabbed an 18-year-old male in the shoulder.
Ahmed Iyow, 22, is the brother of Abddullahi Ahmed Iyow, who was fatally stabbed at age 19 by the juvenile defendant at the southern Brisbane suburb of Acacia Ridge in June 2024.
Jamal Ahmed Iyow was excused from attending his first appearance on Thursday in Brisbane Magistrates Court charged with unlawful assault causing bodily harm with an offensive weapon and making threats to kill.
Defence solicitor William Kennedy was granted an adjournment and Ahmed Iyow’s bail was continued.
Mr Kennedy said outside court that his client was innocent unless proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt and “the charges will be contested at this stage”.
“We hope to get a good result for him. Anyone in his circumstances, I’m sure you could understand, would act in that sort of way but as I said he’s innocent until proven guilty.”
The juvenile defendant, who cannot be named as he was aged 17 at the time, was due to be sentenced for Abddullahi Ahmed Iyow’s murder when Jamal Ahmed Iyow allegedly attacked the defendant before the hearing could begin.
The teen was sentenced at a rescheduled hearing in Queensland Supreme Court on Monday.
Justice Rebecca Treston told the teen defendant he had taken the life of a joyful young man and left Abddullahi Ahmed Iyow’s family with a devastating loss.
Justice Treston said the teen had stabbed his friend in “virtually unprovoked circumstances” after an altercation in which the victim broke his phone.
“It could hardly be considered to have provoked your response. (The victim) was on the ground when you repeatedly stabbed him,” she said.
“You inflicted violence when the victim did not fight back.”
The teen was sentenced to 12 years detention with a requirement he serve 70 per cent of that time.
Mr Kennedy said outside court on Thursday the teen’s sentence was a “difficult pill to swallow” for his client.
“There has been those new reforms to youth justice. Unfortunately it has been after the fact (to the murder of Abddullahi Ahmed Iyow). I can’t say much more than that,” he said.
Under Queensland’s ‘adult crime, adult time’ laws, juvenile offenders found to have committed a murder after December 12, 2024 will face a mandatory minimum of 20 years in custody.
Jamal Ahmed Iyow’s charges are due to be heard again at Brisbane Magistrates Court on May 7.
AAP
