Sadiq Al-Lami, 30, was stabbed to death at a junction in East Didsbury, Manchester, one year ago – police believe a road rage incident led to the ‘cold and senseless attack’
Police have revealed the horrendous motive behind the killing of a young man who was stabbed 11 times in a vicious attack one year ago.
Sadiq Al-Lami, 30, was going to meet a friend when he was attacked at the junction near Parrs Wood in East Didsbury, Manchester, on January 22, 2024. A witness told Greater Manchester Police that his attackers were in a black car which stopped alongside the victim’s vehicle at the junction.
The three men – Sultan Bakr, Sikander Babar and his brother Abdul Wahab Babar, who were all sentenced to life imprisonment on Tuesday – emerged from the car, approached the victim and there was a physical altercation. Greater Manchester Police said Sadiq tried to get away but he was fatally stabbed.
Despite the best efforts of police officers and paramedics at the scene, Sadiq died as a result of his injuries. The attackers fled the scene but were eventually traced by the police and arrested.
Sadiq’s younger brother, Mostapha, said it’s impossible to make sense of his death, as he said: “There isn’t an answer I can give.” Detective Inspector Alex Wilkinson, the lead officer on the case who has helped the traumatised family following Sadiq’s killing, said the victim was “subjected to a really prolonged and vicious attack.”
Police were never able to establish a motive behind the fatal attack, but they believe it to be a road rage incident, reports the Manchester Evening News. DI Wilkinson said: “It seems completely senseless and almost ludicrous that something like a road rage incident could lead to that.
“That’s why we carefully considered whether there was some other motive or something in the background to this. We were never able to establish one. It’s my belief now that there never was one. I think that anyone who had come across that group in that car that night, and had perhaps challenged them, that could have happened to them.
“They obviously took a knife to the scene, there was at least one knife in the car. It just seems completely ridiculous that something as relatively minor as words about somebody’s manner of driving could result in you being stabbed and left to die.”
The Babar brothers had been plotting their escape to Pakistan, but didn’t make it past the first stage. They were traced and caught in Essex after trying to hide in the back of a lorry. Bakr was arrested at his sister’s home in London after boarding a bus to the capital.
Meanwhile, Sadiq’s family were left to comprehend the tragedy which had befell them. “It is an absolutely horrendous way to lose a loved one over something that seems so ridiculous, it could happen to anyone,” DI Wilkinson said. “If there hadn’t been a knife there that night, I’ve got no doubt it may still have been a very serious incident where somebody could have been badly assaulted, but ultimately Sadiq died of stab wounds. If there hadn’t been a knife at the scene then it may well have ended differently.
“My message to anyone would be, think carefully before you take a knife out with you.” Sadiq’s family watched on in court as his killers desperately tried to avoid justice, even after being caught.
The sentencing hearing allowed the family to paint a fuller picture of Sadiq’s life, and explain exactly what he meant to them. Asked what his brother was like, Mostapha said: “Look at his smile. That was him every day. He kept us together.”
“Nobody had a bad word to say about Sadiq,” DI Wilkinson added. “I never got the pleasure of meeting Sadiq, but everything that I’ve had described from his family said he was just a likeable person. He always seemed to be smiling, everything that his family ever said was positive about him.
“If he’s anything like his brothers, who I’ve got to meet, I can say he would be a really nice person. They are going to miss him. He was the older brother. They are trying to come to terms with that.” The Babar brothers, both of Ashdale Drive, Withington, and Bakr, of Hyde Road, Gorton, were all found guilty of murder.
Sikander Babar was sentenced to life in prison, to serve a minimum term of 20 years. Abdul Babar was sentenced to life in prison, to serve a minimum term of 19 years. Sultan Bakr was sentenced to life in prison, to serve a minimum term of 20 years.
In court, DI Wilkinson added: “Sadiq lost his life in such a cold and senseless attack. These men had a choice that night and for reasons only known to them, they chose to resort to violence. They have shown no remorse for their actions, and from the very start they have tried to destroy evidence, distance themselves from this attack, even turning against each other in court to try and shift the blame.”
