Beeston murder trial: Jury told man who inflicted fatal knife wound in busy street 'was trying to protect his brother'

Brothers Omar Ishaq and Kearon Barker are on trial at Leeds Crown Court where they plead not guilty to murdering 40-year-old Keith Harrower on December 12, 2019.

The court has heard Mr Harrower died shortly after being fatally stabbed in the neck by Ishaq when he was 'lured' to a shop on Dewsbury Road, Beeston.

The prosecution claims the brothers planned the attack on Mr Harrower as revenge after they were "robbed" the previous day.

Jurors have been told how the brothers tried to leave the country in the hours after the incident but abandoned the attempt as Ishaq did not have a passport.

Outlining Ishaq's defence case to the jury, his barrister, Kama Melly QC, said her client accepted being unlawfully in possession of a knife but did not intend to kill Mr Harrower with the weapon.

She said: "It is right that Omar Ishaq accepts that it was him that caused that fatal injury to Mr Harrower.

"We say that on the facts of this case, although Omar Ishaq admits that it was him, and him alone, that inflicted the fatal injury, he remains not guilty of murder.

"The offence of murder is proved not simply by determining who inflicted that injury.

"At that time Omar Ishaq inflicted that injury he did not do so with intention to cause serious harm or to kill.

"As you have heard it is for the prosecution to prove that Omar Ishaq was not acting in lawful self defence or defence of another,

"It is his case that, fearing that his brother was about to be seriously attacked, he struck Mr Harrower once as an instinctive and preemptive attack.

"Bearing in mind the legal direction that you will receive in due course, you must consider the circumstances of the situation as Omar Ishaq genuinely believed them to be."

Simon Myerson QC, for Barker, told the jury: "Kearon Barker did not know what was going to happen.

"He had no knife.

"It is the prosecution's case that Mr Barker 'must have known'. That is not evidence. That is just an assertion."

"Watch for the evidence that is said to mean that Mr Barker must have known.

"After the incident Mr Barker ran away. He was with his brother when the stabbing happened.

"He ran away with his brother.

"He was the man with his passport who did not leave the country.

"Throughout the investigation he sought to protect his brother.

Mr Myerson added: "He did it because he wanted to protect his brother. Because he was frightened. That does not make him guilty of anything.

"It definitely doesn't make him guilty of murder.

"Listen to the evidence carefully and judge it fairly."