Yousef Makki 'vindicated' by unlawful killing ruling, sister says

The sister of a schoolboy stabbed to death by a friend has said he has been "vindicated" by a coroner's ruling that he was unlawfully killed.

Yousef Makki, 17, died after being stabbed in the heart in Hale Barns, Greater Manchester, in 2019.

The conclusions of his first inquest were quashed in 2021, two years after Joshua Molnar was cleared of his murder and manslaughter in a criminal trial.

Jade Akoum said the new inquest's ruling was "a dream come true".

She told BBC Radio 5 Live: "He was kind of blamed for his own death, or he was the author of his own death.

"And now we know. We've proved that that wasn't the case.

"He's been vindicated, I guess."

The coroner at the previous inquest had ruled out accidental or unlawful killing after finding she could not be sure of the "precise sequence of events" leading to Yousef's death.

But the High Court later quashed the findings and ordered a new inquest following a legal battle from Yousef's family.

Coroner Geraint Williams called into question much of the previous evidence at the first inquest before reaching his new conclusion at Stockport Coroner's Court.

He said he found Yousef did not use a knife at the time of his death, and Molnar had not acted in self-defence and did not believe he needed to use a knife to defend himself.

"Therefore, I conclude that Mr Makki was unlawfully killed... fully made out by the evidence," Mr Williams said.

Ms Akoum said: "It's something for four and a half years we've been trying to prove and to hear a senior coroner say that on public record.

"It was like a dream come true.

"It's something we've been trying to achieve for a very long time."

Yousef, from Burnage in Manchester, became friends with Molnar after winning a scholarship to £12,000-a-year Manchester Grammar School.

During his trial, Molnar, now aged 22, said he had acted in self-defence when he stabbed Yousef with a flick knife.

He was cleared of murder and manslaughter but jailed for 16 months for carrying a knife in public and perverting the course of justice.

That verdict still stands and is not affected by inquest findings, which are based on a lesser standard of proof.

Ms Akoum said she would not give up on the hope of a retrial even though her family were "realistic that the prospects of reopening the case or a retrial are very, very slim".

She said she feels "at peace" after the inquest ruling but "if there is hope for a prosecution, of course we would accept that, but if there's no chance then we're happy with what we got".

Listen to the full interview on 5 Live here on BBC Sounds.

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