Leeds West Indian Carnival killer slashed prison inmate with razors to 'set down marker'

Beni Nami, who is serving a life sentence for murdering a man at Leeds West Indian Carnival, used a makeshift weapon with embedded blades to attack the inmate. Leeds Crown Court heard that Nami traded verbal insults with the man in the workshop of the Love Lane jail over the way Nami allegedly spoke to a female officer.

Nami, 23, made homophobic remarks to the man and then said they would "carry this on in the exercise yard", indicating he wanted to fight him. The day after, on February 1 last year, the victim was walking across the exercise yard and heard Nami shouting at him and coming towards with "something in his hand".

Nami then slashed the man across the face several times. The victim tried to defend himself and a scuffle ensued. Another prisoner then picked up the dropped weapon and threw it over the prison wall but it was later retrieved. The victim suffered a 4cm laceration under his eye, a 2cm laceration to his cheek, a 1cm cut to his ear, a 1cm laceration to his nostril and a 5cm laceration to his shoulder.

Nami was later interviewed but gave no comments. He admitted GBH with intent and possession of a bladed article in a prison. The court heard that he wanted to "set down a marker" that he would not be insulted in prison.

He has three previous convictions for five offences, including murder. He was one of two men convicted after a trial of stabbing Tcherno Ly to death at the West Indian Carnival in Chapeltown in 2019. He used a 'Rambo-style' knife to inflict the fatal knife wound to Mr Ly's chest as the two men fought on Chapeltown Road.

But having been told he must serve a minimum 20-year sentence, he was found guilty after a trial in February 2021 of raping a girl in 2018. For this he was given an additional six years to run consecutively, taking his total sentence to 26 years.

Mitigating for Nami's latest offences, Christopher Dunn told the court: "There were some difficulties between him and the complainant and the defendant feared for his safety. He completely overreacted. That's the essence of what he says, of course there's no evidence to support that, it's just a feeling he had."

Judge Nathan Adams told Nami that he was "effectively getting in first" against the victim but said it was "not mitigation". He handed him a four-year sentence, for which he will serve half, therefore taking his overall time behind bars to 28 years.