TWO men have been handed a life sentence for the murder of a 24-year-old man from Slough.

Riaz Miah and Hassan Al-Kubanji were found guilty of stabbing Mohammed Rafaqit Kayani in the chest during an incident in Keel Drive on August 30 last year.

An almost month-long trial heard that Miah, 21, of no fixed abode, had been dealing drugs in the area at the time and Al-Kubanji, 22, was visiting him.

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On the day of the incident, they were in a park off Concorde Way when there was an ‘altercation’ with Mr Kayani.

The defence case was that Mr Kayani had brought a knife to the park and started the fight as the pair were dealing drugs on his ‘territory’. Miah was also in possession of a blade.

The victim was then chased from the park to the Slough Hindu Temple in Keel Drive at about 1.40pm where Mr Kayani was tragically stabbed in the chest.

At Reading Crown Court today (April 3), Miah was sentenced to a minimum term of 24 years imprisonment for murder. He was also sentenced to a concurrent sentence of four and a half years for possession with intent to supply Class A drugs and a concurrent sentence of two years for possession of a bladed weapon – both of which he pleaded guilty to.

Al-Kubanji was sentenced to a minimum term of 23 years imprisonment for murder. He was acquitted of two counts of supplying Class A drugs and possession of a bladed weapon in a public place.

The pair will have the time they were in custody - 216 days - removed from their minimum sentence.

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Resident Judge Heather Norton said: “What is clear and what is significant is that firstly there is no evidence and no suggestion that anybody was injured in anyway in that playground.

“Secondly, Mr Kayani left the playground first and he ran away. Thirdly, from the point Mr Kayani left the playground there was no threat to either of you.

“Fourthly, you both deliberately and voluntarily chased after Mr Kayani and finally by the point Mr Al-Kubanji had hold of Mr Miah’s machete.

“By the time Mr Kayani left the playground, the tables had turned, you were the aggressors. What took place was extreme violence.

“No sentencing I can make can bring Rafaqit back.”

Judge Norton took into consideration that there was ‘some evidence’ Mr Kayani had started the confrontation and had brought a machete to the park and noted it was ‘likely to be the case’.

Mitigating, Amjad Malik, defending Miah, said: “This was a young man in 2020 who was struck by a life threatening sarcoma.

“Since the verdict he’s had continuous scans and his throat is constricted. It’s a punishing situation.”

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Dean George, defending Al-Kubanji, said: “There was an element of self-defence at the start of the incident in the park – he received injuries too.”

Two victim impact statements were written by Mr Kayani’s family who asked the Crown not to read them out in open court.

Several police officers were present as the sentencing took place and the defendants appeared via video link due to an incident inside the court room during the verdict deliveries last month.

According to an eyewitness, the defendants began shouting as well as people in the public gallery ‘banging’ on the dock window.

It was heard that threats were made to the jury who were ‘climbing over their desks’ to leave the room.

There was also an incident outside on the steps leading up to court but another eyewitness added that the ‘scuffle’ didn’t last long. Access to the court was blocked off by a line of police for almost an hour.

Mentioning the brawl in court, Mr Malik asked Judge Norton not to consider it in relation to the sentencing.

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He said: “I apologise for such a situation arising and I really wish time could be moved back and everyone could have avoided that.”

Judge Norton said: “I make it clear that that the disorder and the defendants park in it play no part in my sentencing decision today.”

She confirmed it is being dealt with elsewhere in accordance to criminal proceedings.

A third man, Miguel Parian John, 41, of Concorde Way, Slough, was also found guilty of assisting an offender by hiding the blades involved in the incident.

He will be sentenced on a different date.