Paul Foster, 47, was stabbed to dying in his flat throughout an alleged ‘taxing’, as Sarah Kasseum, who denies homicide, instructed the courtroom she was smoking crack
Sarah Kasseum is accused of the homicide of Paul Foster (Picture: Fb)
A mom accused of homicide has instructed the courtroom she was smoking crack cocaine in a parked automobile exterior whereas a person was fatally stabbed inside a close-by flat. Paul Foster, 47, died after sustaining a single stab wound to the again throughout a “taxing” on Muirhead Avenue in West Derby.
His attackers have been reportedly “tooled up” with a knife and an imitation firearm through the theft, making off with medication and a amount of money from the property earlier than fleeing the scene. 5 defendants — Elsadig Abrahim, Zayd Alasaly, Dylan Blundell, Michael Fields and Sarah Kasseum — are at present standing trial at Liverpool Crown Courtroom, every charged together with his homicide.
Kasseum started delivering her proof to the jury on Thursday afternoon. Throughout questioning by her barrister Peter Finnigan KC, she additionally described how Blundell had knowledgeable her within the wake of the stabbing that he had witnessed Fields “passing a knife” to Alasaly, who was reported to have “given a smack” to Mr Foster.
Dressed fully in black within the witness field, Kasseum appeared visibly emotional as she was sworn in on the bible, earlier than denying any intention for the sufferer to be killed or significantly injured. She additional maintained that she had no information that others current on the flat had been armed with a knife and an air pistol, and insisted she had been fully unaware of any deliberate theft.
Kasseum proceeded to explain how she had been a crack cocaine consumer for “a few years”, having additionally offered medication to fund her behavior. Addressing the hours previous the stabbing, she recounted how she had been on the residence of a person named Tony Conroy on St Mary’s Shut in Wavertree and acknowledged: “I used to be having a pipe in the lounge. I feel Ziggy [Abrahim] and Dylan have been in the lounge with me. Zayd, Mick and Tony have been within the kitchen speaking. We had our pipe after which we acquired off.”
When questioned about “how a lot crack she had consumed” that day, Kasseum responded “I could not inform you, quite a bit”. Concerning the drug’s affect on her, she remarked: “It retains me awake actually. I am having my pipe, chilling. I might been up for 2 or three days. I used to be alright. I used to be conscious what was happening round me.”
“They was all simply attempting to get heroin. It was too late. They weren’t on. They weren’t answering. Some persons are on 24/7. Generally they run out of heroin or they’ve crack extra.”
When Mr Finnigan enquired in regards to the topic of dialog at this level, Kasseum answered: “Simply the standard. Chatting s****. Mick waffling on. His common s****. Crack speak principally, nothing out the peculiar.”
Having been and not using a residence and lodging with numerous acquaintances on the time, Kasseum remembered: “I used to be meant to say at Tony Conroy’s, however I wasn’t staying there as a result of Kieran Hannon was staying there. It is not that I could not. I might have, however I did not wish to due to Kieran Hannon. He was only a pest, all the time attempting to get on me.
“I used to be gonna return to both Eugene [Brown]’s or [Paul] Tully’s, however Tully was on the town, so I took the choice to return to Eugene’s. I requested Mick might he drop me off. He stated yeah. He stated simply shoot down right here with me first. He stated simply shoot right here with me, that means Muirhead Avenue, then I am going to drop you again off. He stated he will Muirhead Avenue to see that child, Pablo.
“I would just heard by Mick about him, simply that Mick was owed cash off him. He’d give him bits beforehand, stuff to promote, and he owed him a little bit of dough. That was simply the dialog all through the day in Eugene’s.”
After departing in Fields’ Kia Ceed car as entrance passenger alongside Blundell, with Abrahim and Alasaly seated within the again, Kasseum acknowledged: “The dialog within the automobile was whether or not he is even going to get a solution off the child, Pablo. He’d been blanking him for just a few days. Mick had heard nothing off him. He stated, would you get out for me? You’ve got acquired extra probability of getting in, he is gonna clean me.
“I stated yeah, alright. I did not know nothing. I simply thought he was going to get his dough he was owed. He was simply gonna get his cash off that child. Additionally, he was saying that he might have bobby [heroin] for them, Ziggy and Dylan.
“I acquired out. I am simply in entrance a bit of bit. They have been behind me. I buzzed the buzzer. A woman come, knocked on the highest window. She went away from the window, then the door buzzed to achieve entry.” Having unlocked the door to the flat, Kasseum acknowledged she then “went off, went again to the automobile” and continued: “I used to be having my pipe within the automobile. Simply listening to my music.”
Kasseum revealed that the males subsequently returned to the car “fast, all like ‘simply get within the automobile’, shut the doorways” and stated: “I stated to Mick, what occurred? Did you get your cash? He stated, did I f***. My man smacked him up. Give him a smack.”
Fields was stated to have gestured in direction of Alasaly at this level earlier than the automobile was pushed “quick, heading again in direction of the way in which we come.”
Police cordon in Liverpool metropolis centre after ‘gun risk’
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Kasseum recounted: “We pulled up into Tony’s shut. Dylan and Ziggy have been within the automobile. Zayd and Mick acquired out the automobile and bumped into Tony’s. I circled to Dylan and stated, what the f***’s gone on child? Dylan turned spherical and stated he seen Mick passing Zayd the knife.”
Kasseum disclosed she subsequently requested “somebody to cellphone me a taxi” as she “wished to get off”. Having departed with Abrahim and Blundell within the car, she described the “ambiance” at that second: “They have been quiet. It was horrible. My head was in all places. I did not know what had gone on.”
The jury of six males and 6 ladies had beforehand heard through the prosecution’s opening final week that Mr Foster dealt medication from the house of a now deceased lady named Lyndzi McCowan on Muirhead Avenue, the place Fields was alleged to have pushed his 4 co-defendants in his black Kia Ceed automobile shortly after 1.30am on October 15 2024. David McLachlan KC, prosecuting, acknowledged: “They weren’t going to Muirhead Avenue for a bit of drive on a Tuesday morning within the early hours.
“The prosecution say that they have been within the automobile for a goal, and it was not goal. The aim was to rob Paul Foster of his cash and his medication in what is understood generally as taxing, they usually went tooled up. By that, we imply that they have been armed with a knife and an imitation firearm.”
Upon their arrival, Kasseum was allegedly “deployed to achieve entry” to the property by way of the intercom, having purportedly been “within the know” and “shut sufficient to Paul Foster to know the place he was and shut sufficient to know what he did.”
Mr McLachlan knowledgeable the courtroom: “Lyndzi McCowan buzzed her in. It didn’t work and, in reality, no one arrived on the flat, so Lyndzi McCowan walked down to talk to the lady, Sarah Kasseum, who had been buzzed in.
“As she made her approach downstairs, she was confronted by three males operating at her. They have been wearing black. She didn’t see the lady that she had seen from the window. Lyndzi McCowan ran again into the flat, little doubt as quick as she might, and tried to close the door in opposition to the males that have been attempting to barge in. She was screaming. She realised that the males have been there to rob Paul Foster.” These males have been heard to say “the place is he?”, “the place’s the bits?” and “the place’s the cash?” and have been stated to be armed with “what seemed to be a gun”. Mr McLachlan added: “Throughout that confrontation, Paul Foster was fatally stabbed within the again.
“What did they do? Nicely, they legged it. They fled the scene. They took money, stolen from the flat. They have been described as carrying all black clothes and balaclavas. A bloodstained piece of black steel, which was the plastic slide part of an air pistol, was recovered from inside 40A Muirhead Avenue. The knife was by no means recovered.
“It’s the prosecution case that Paul Foster’s dying was a direct consequence of a drug taxing the place he was residing and dealing medication. It’s the prosecution case that Michael Fields drove the offenders to the scene, that Sarah Kasseum was current on the scene and acted as a decoy by posing as somebody who supposed to buy medication from Paul Foster.
“However she was there for a completely totally different goal, that being to facilitate entry to the flat for the aim of the taxing that was to happen. Thereafter, the males went in, Michael Fields, Elsadig Abrahim, Zayd Alasaly and Dylan Blundell. They went in to do their enterprise armed with weapons, a knife and an imitation firearm.
“The prosecution case is that each one 5 defendants went to 40A Muirhead Avenue to rob Paul Foster of his medication and cash. They went mob handed. They have been armed with a knife and an imitation firearm. The prosecution case is that they shared a standard goal, and that frequent goal was, no doubt, to rob Paul Foster and, if it got here to it, and, sadly, it did, to commit homicide.
“Was the stabbing of Paul Foster throughout the scope of a joint enterprise if the necessity arose? That shall be a query that you’ll grapple with. The prosecution case is that it clearly was, and it will likely be obligatory so that you can contemplate, individually, what the intentions of every of the defendants was on this case.
“The prosecution case is that, whereas the defendants went to rob Paul Foster, they did so within the information that, if it acquired on prime, they might resort to utilizing the weapons that they’d, that have been of their joint possession, to wound or to inflict grievous bodily hurt with intent. The knife was not a toy, members of the jury.”
Abrahim, aged 61 and residing on Croxteth Highway in Toxteth, 23 yr outdated Alasaly, of Corinto Road in Toxteth, 26 yr outdated Blundell, of Corsewall Road in Wavertree, 41 yr outdated Kasseum, of Decrease Breck Highway in Anfield, and 50 yr outdated Fields, of no mounted deal with, all deny homicide and possession of a bladed article in a public place. Abrahim, Alasaly and Kasseum have moreover pleaded not responsible to theft and carrying an imitation firearm with intent to commit an offence. Blundell and Fields, nonetheless, admit these two fees, with the latter having likewise admitted guilt to manslaughter. The proceedings, presided over by Choose Simon Medland KC, are ongoing.
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