{"id":6547,"date":"2014-03-17T14:25:22","date_gmt":"2014-03-17T14:25:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tat.reddaisytrading.co.uk\/index.php\/2014\/03\/17\/teen-sentenced-to-life-behind-bars\/"},"modified":"2016-01-07T13:50:10","modified_gmt":"2016-01-07T13:50:10","slug":"teen-sentenced-to-life-behind-bars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/2014\/03\/17\/teen-sentenced-to-life-behind-bars\/","title":{"rendered":"Teen Sentenced to Life Behind Bars"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Jailed for Murder of Azim Azam<\/h3>\n

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Azeem Akhtar has been sentenced to life imprisonment to serve a minimum of 16 years and three months after he admitted the murder of sixteen year old Azim Azam. <\/div>\n

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\u00a0<\/div>\n

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Azim was en route to his first full day at Bournville College on September 16 last year when he bumped into 17-year-old Azeem Akhtar on the No 2 bus in Moseley.<\/p>\n


\nIt\u2019s understood the pair had fallen out months earlier with Akhtar telling friends he lunged at Azim with the kitchen knife in revenge for being \u201csnaked\u201d \u2013 a slang term for insulted.<\/p>\n


\nThe 16-year-old, from Yardley, died from a single stab wound to the chest. At Birmingham Crown Court Akhtar admitted murder and was sentenced to life and will serve a minimum of 16 years and three months.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cA SHOCKING waste of two young lives\u201d \u2013 that\u2019s how a leading West Midlands Police officer described the knife killing of Birmingham student Azim Azam as a teenager was jailed for life for stabbing him over a petty squabble.<\/p>\n


\nDetective Superintendent Mark Payne said the case sent out stark warnings over the danger of carrying knives in public.<\/p>\n


\nHe said: \u201cHad Akhtar not been carrying a knife they may well have had a bit of a dust up and most likely walked away with a few cuts and bruises; who knows, it may well have settled their differences.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cBut carrying a knife, or indeed anything that could be used as a weapon, is a game changer: if you set foot in public with a knife you not only endanger other people\u2019s lives but also your own. If someone with a knife gets caught up in a row or scuffle there\u2019s every chance that knife could be used to injure or kill \u2013 and may well be used against the carrier.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cAnyone using a knife in anger can expect to waste much of their life behind bars.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nAzim boarded the No 2 bus in Yardley Wood Road, near Swanhurst Lane, at around 8.25am and within moments Akhtar \u2013 who was sat at the rear \u2013 began hurling abuse and, ominously, was spotted on CCTV discretely pulling on a pair of black gloves. <\/p><\/div>\n

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Fellow passengers told how Akhtar \u2013 a frequent bus passenger \u2013 shouted \u201cwhat you doing on my bus\u2026I\u2019m going to deal with you\u201d and \u201clet\u2019s go to town\u201d which is understood to mean let\u2019s have a fight.<\/p>\n


\nAzim shrugged off the taunts and minutes later got off at his usual stop at the junction with Wake Green Road.<\/p>\n


\nWitnesses describe how Akhtar, from Glen Rise in Kings Heath, shoved his way past people standing in the aisle to reach Azim and, as he stepped off, stabbed the 16-year-old in the chest.<\/p>\n


\nAzim initially ran off but after a few steps slumped to the ground; a doctor tried reviving him as he lay on the pavement but despite the best efforts of paramedics he later died in hospital.<\/p>\n


\nAkhtar \u2013 known amongst associates as \u2018Ace\u2019 \u2013 phoned a friend on the bus saying \u201cI think I got him but there\u2019s no blood on my weapon\u201d before attending a youth course later that morning and meeting a \u2018mentor\u2019 at 2pm in Birmingham city centre.<\/p>\n


\nBoth the course lead and young persons\u2019 mentor described Akhtar, now aged 18, as acting normally and didn\u2019t appear nervous or anxious.<\/p>\n


\nPolice made numerous arrest attempts at addresses known to Akhtar and, as the net closed, he handed himself in to Birmingham Central Police station the following morning.<\/p>\n


\nA joint statement issued by West Midlands Police on behalf of Azim\u2019s family told how he left for college \u201csmiling and full of hope\u201d \u2013 but was never to return home.<\/p>\n


\nIt reads: \u201cWe still feel lost and heartbroken over the loss of Azim\u2026a mother should never have to bury her son.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cNothing will ever bring our boy back but some peace may be found knowing the person who killed him isn\u2019t free to walk the streets carrying a knife, putting further lives at risk. To us this behaviour is so unacceptable.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cAn innocent boy\u2019s life was lost whilst on his way to his first day at college. He left that morning smiling and full of hope for his future. We will never forget the way Azim lost his life\u2026we will always miss him and love him.\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n

\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jailed for Murder of Azim Azam Azeem Akhtar has been sentenced to life imprisonment to serve a minimum of 16 years and three months after he admitted the murder of sixteen year old Azim Azam. \u00a0 Azim was en route to his first full day at Bournville College on September 16 last […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11753,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6547\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}