Colchester flatmate handed life sentence for 'brutal' murder

A man has been handed a life sentence for the "brutal" murder of a young father over an unknown grievance.

Bako Azad Sheikha, 22, was stabbed to death in Distillery Lane, Colchester, on 12 September last year after driving there at knifepoint.

Chelmsford Crown Court heard Rakar Rahimi, now 23, stabbed Mr Sheikha twice before running over his body as he fled the scene.

Judge Christopher Morgan told Rahimi he would serve a minimum of 25 years.

The trial had heard the pair arrived separately as Iraqi Kurdistan refugees seven years ago and Rahimi worked at a supermarket managed by Mr Sheikha in Colchester.

The judge said that on the night of 11 September, they returned to a flat they shared in Haven Road but that Rahimi had a "grievance that led you to produce a knife".

Rahimi had removed a doorbell camera, led Mr Sheikha at knifepoint to his car and he was forced to drive to Distillery Lane, the court heard.

Mr Sheikha was stabbed twice as he tried to leave the vehicle, with the fatal wound penetrating 12cm (4.7in) into his chest. He was run over as he lay in the road, the trial was told.

Prosecutors said Rahimi took a bag belonging to Mr Sheikha containing £5,000, as well as his phone, before crashing the car.

He was arrested in Dover after attempting to "coolly try to leave the UK to avoid the consequences of what you had done", the judge said.

"The circumstances of Bako's murder were brutal," he added.

"Only you know the real reason behind your threat," Judge Morgan said. "He must have been terrified".

The jury found Rahimi guilty of murder on Wednesday.

In an impact statement read to the court by prosecutors, Mr Sheikha's brother Shaho said he had "welcomed Rakar into his home, gave him a job and introduced him to the Kurdish community in Colchester - and he repaid Bako by killing him".

He told how his "loving and caring" brother, who volunteered with a refugee support group, had "endured multiple boats and lorries" to "live his dream in England".

"We have now lost our lion," his statement said.

Mr Sheikha's former partner, Libby Nash, the mother of his young daughter, described him as "a good man who idolised his family" and that his future as a father had been "ripped away from him".

In sentencing, Judge Morgan said Mr Sheikha's murder had "denied him the opportunity to build his life in the UK where he had sought refuge."

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