Yousef Makki: Coroner urged to conclude death was unlawful killing

A schoolboy's fatal stabbing should be found to be a case of unlawful killing, a barrister has told an inquest.

Yousef Makki, 17, died after being stabbed in Hale Barns in March 2019.

Joshua Molnar told a court he acted in self-defence and was cleared of murder and manslaughter in the following July.

Peter Weatherby KC, representing the Makki family, said the 21-year-old gave differing accounts of what had happened and the inquest was "a search for the truth on a balance of probabilities".

A second inquest into Yousef's death is being held after the High Court quashed the conclusions of a first in 2021.

The hearing at Stockport Coroner's Court was told Molnar, who was jailed for 16 months for carrying a knife in public and perverting the course of justice, had admitted lying about what happened.

It also heard of "discrepancies" in how he came to stab Yousef in the heart with a flick knife.

Molnar told his trial that the pair had had a row and Yousef had pulled a knife out first, so he took his own out and his friend "came on" to his weapon, causing the fatal injury.

Adam Chowdhary, who was found not guilty of perverting the course of justice and given a four-month detention order after admitting having a knife in public, was with the pair at the time.

Chowdhary, who had bought the flick knives online, said he did not see what happened because he was on his phone.

Lawyers for Yousef's family told the inquest that the only evidence he had brandished a knife had come from Molnar.

The hearing was also told the coroner had questioned how "feasible" it was that Yousef, having been stabbed in the heart and bleeding heavily, had then retracted the blade of the flick knife and put it in his pocket, before, as Chowdhary said, handing it to him to put down a grid.

Lawyers for Yousef's family and Molnar and Chowdhary made final submissions to Coroner Geraint Williams on the fourth day of the inquest.

Tom Coke-Smyth, representing Chowdhary, said the question of whether he did or did not see anything meant "absolutely nothing" to the question of whether Molnar's self-defence was justified.

Lisa Judge, representing Molnar, said any individual "who came to this court to lie, would have maintained the lie".

"It is quite apparent that Joshua Molnar told many lies at the roadside," she said.

"He accepted criminal culpability for those lies.

"The only inconsistencies are inconsistencies that arise out of trauma, fracturing memories or loss of memory."

She added that when lies were told, they were "often told for many, many reasons other than culpability with regards to a specific act".

Peter Weatherby KC, representing the Makki family, said his case was that Molnar was "lying about what happened because we say Yousef did not have a knife or did not brandish a knife".

He said Molnar had given differing accounts of what happened and asked the coroner to look at "precursor" evidence before the stabbing.

"We urge you not to accept that we are asking you to speculate," he added.

"This is a search for the truth on a balance of probabilities."

Mr Williams is scheduled to give his conclusions on Wednesday.

Why not follow BBC North West on Facebook, X and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to [email protected]