Gang ofrobbers 'batteredshopkeeperto death'

Robert Sutcliffe

A GANG of robbers battered to death a shopkeeper who fought to protect his “hard-earned money” a jury was told yesterday.

Gurmail Singh, 63, was beaten over the head with bottles of wine taken from his own shelves as he tried in vain to stop four young men taking cash, cigarettes, alcohol and sweets from his shop in Fixby, Huddersfield.

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Prosecutor Adrian Waterman QC told Bradford Crown Court: “Gurmail Singh did not meekly hand over his property, his hard- earned money.

“When he resisted the robbers they used serious violence on him, grabbing the nearest weapon to hand, which happened to be bottles of wine he sold in the shop. He was hit on the head. It was that which caused his death.”

Mr Waterman told the jury: “This was a robbery gone wrong.”

The prosecutor was opening the case on the first day of the trial of Umare Aslam, 20; Muawaz Khalid, 20; Shoaib Khan, 18; Nabeel Shafi, 18; and Rehman Afzal, 18.

He said it was the prosecution case that four of the defendants – Aslam, Khalid, Shafi and Afzal – went into the store to rob Mr Singh.

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Khan was not in the shop because he could not fit in the taxi which took the others.

But Mr Waterman told the jury: “It is the Crown’s case that each of these defendants was at the very least involved in a joint enterprise.

“To put it in more colloquial terms, they were in it together and each was responsible, criminally, for his death.”

All five defendants deny Continued on Page 8.

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