Taxi Driver Online

Uber driver 'smothered children with petrol soaked rag'

Court told Endris Mohammed bought three litres of petrol before starting fire in family home

A uber driver killed his two children by smothering them with a petrol soaked rag and then started a blaze while his wife slept upstairs at their home in Birmingham, a court heard

Endris Mohammed who had also tried to cause an explosion by tampering with the gas, fled from the scene.

He then drove to a road in Staffordshire where he was later found near his car suffering from burns.

Mohammed, 47, has denied murdering eight year old Saros and his six year old daughter Leanor as well as attempting to murder his wife Penil Teklehaimanot.

Jonas Hankin QC, prosecuting at Birmingham Crown Court, said: “At 3.37am on October 28 last year the emergency services received the first of many 999 calls.

“They were connected with a house fire at Holland Road, Hamstead the home of the defendant where he lived with his wife and two children.

“They found Saros and Leanor lifeless on the ground outside the house. Both children were in cardiac arrest and both had chemical burns on their faces.”

Mr Hankin said attempts were made to revive them but they were pronounced dead after being taken to hospital.

The trial heard that investigators later examined the scene and discovered: “Escape routes had been impeded, the electricity supply had been disabled and attempts had been made to release gas in the property by damaging a gas pipe that supplied the kitchen cooker.”

Mr Hankin added: “The true reason why the defendant killed his children and attempted to kill his wife may never be known. His explanation for killing his children was that they would be better off dead than living without him and it was his intention to commit suicide.”

Mohammed came to the UK in 2006 from Ethiopia and married his wife in the same year. She was employed as a care worker while he got a job with Uber.

On the day before the deaths Mohammed had worked as normal before going to a petrol station and buying a container which he filled with three litres of fuel.

His wife went to bed at around midnight while he was downstairs with their children.

Mr Hankin said Mohammed drove away from the property at around 3.30am and shortly after that his wife was woken by the smoke alarm, came down stairs and put out the fire.

She then went outside but realised her children were still in the house, the court was told

Mr Hankin said she found them in the lounge and thought they were asleep but when they were taken outside it was apparent they were “unconscious and lifeless.”

He said Mohammed had driven up the M6 and parked in a road in Newcastle Under Lyme where he was later discovered near to his vehicle with burns to his head, face and hands.

The court was told that Mohammed, who later said he had desperate and had no money, did not deny killing his children but his defence was based on him suffering from an abnormality of the mind at the time of the offences.

(Proceeding)

source: http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/mi ... l-13876924

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

Penil Teklehaimanot.

could you imagine trotsky trying to say that after a few sherberts

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

Guilty

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/cr ... 60486.html

A father who killed his two young children with a petrol-soaked cloth and then tried to kill his wife in a gas explosion has been found guilty of murder.

Jurors heard taxi driver Endris Mohammed attempted to murder his partner, Penil Teklehaimanot, by tampering with a gas pipe and setting fire to the family home in Hamstead, Birmingham.

Mohammed had denied the murders of eight-year-old Saros Endris and his sister Leanor, six, claiming diminished responsibility allegedly caused by a depressive disorder.

A two-week trial at Birmingham Crown Court was told Mohammed - who was found guilty of two counts of murder and one of attempted murder - appeared normal in the run-up to the deaths.

Mohammed, who will be sentenced on Monday, pursed his lips but showed no other sign of emotion as he was found guilty just 30 minutes after the jury retired.

Mohammed, who suffered burns to his head after setting the passenger side of his cab alight on the night of the killings, admitted smothering his children.

He did not give evidence during his defence case but argued through his legal team that he was depressed about his future amid money worries.

The 47-year-old fled in his Uber cab after killing Saros and Leanor at their home in Holland Road in the early hours of 28 October last year, having bought a fuel can and three litres of petrol the previous day.

Mohammed met his wife in 2006 in Kent, after they came to Britain from East Africa as asylum seekers.

Giving evidence during the trial, Mrs Teklehaimanot said Mohammed was “a gentle, quiet man” who had not seemed angry or irritable in the months before her children were killed.

Mrs Teklehaimanot was sleeping upstairs when Mohammed smothered Saros and Leanor during a half-term “sleepover” in the lounge.

In her evidence to the jury, Mrs Teklehaimanot, who was woken by a smoke alarm, told how she initially thought her children were asleep when she was unable to wake them.

The court heard Mohammed claimed he had decided to end his own life because his “hopes for a good life in England” had failed, but police inquiries showed the family could live off his wife's earnings as a care worker.

Commenting after the verdicts, Detective Inspector Justin Spanner, of West Midlands Police, described the deaths as an “absolutely horrific” set of events.

The senior officer said: “The evidence of the pre-planning, the fact that two children have lost their lives, who were so young, vibrant, and were doing so well at school and had such a wonderful future ahead of them both - this has to be one of the worst cases I've dealt with.

“Had the fire taken hold, and had gas escaped from the pipe, it could have caused an immense explosion and killed even more people than we are dealing with at the moment.

“Penil has lost absolutely everything in this. She has lost her children, her husband who she trusted and loved the most, she has lost her house.

“She is an extremely brave lady who has been put through not only that, but also having to go to court to give evidence.

“The investigation team, and the I'm sure the community, hope that she is able to find a way of going forward.”

Trial judge Mr Justice Gilbart, addressing the jurors after the verdicts, told them: “You've just dealt with a very important case.

hers hoping he's never released

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

ahh so that's where my post disappeared to

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

_________________
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

a tad racist to the Chinese viewers

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

not that your old enough to remember this


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nebe1zuEtbc

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

I'm on the x factor tommoz - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCHF2BTwSH4

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

Taxi driver who killed his children jailed for minimum of 33 years

should have been life without any parole for what he did

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

You mean Private hire driver.

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Justice for the 96. It has only taken 27 years...........repeat the same lies for 27 years and the truth sounds strange to people!

You mean a U*** private hire driver who according to themselves there drivers do no wrong,wonder if he was a TFL licensed driver.

my apologies Trevor I just cut and paste the headline without correcting the journos poor use of the english language

he was of course an uber Pig Humper not a member of the more senior ranks of drivers

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector