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Teenager jailed for frenzied attack on former imam

Dan Thomson
10/ 4/2008

A TEENAGER who stabbed a former imam in a frenzied attack has been locked up indefinitely.

Martin Fay, 19, knifed the father-of-two in the stomach and head and left him for dead by the side of the road.

Ghulam Naz, 47, suffered a fractured skull and was left fighting for his life in a coma. Despite making a recovery he still suffers long-term memory problems.

Fay, of Glanford Avenue, Blackley, pleaded guilty to causing grevious bodily harm with intent at Manchester Crown Court on Tuesday. He was sentenced to indeterminate detention in a Young Offenders' Institute for public protection and was ordered to serve a minimum term of two years and eight months before he will be eligible for parole.

Detective Sergeant David Turner, of Grey Mare Lane CID, said: "This was an unprovoked attack and the level of ferocity used was quite shocking.

"We could have easily been dealing with a murder in this case, it was touch and go for the victim to begin with and he was in hospital for a number of weeks. Fortunately he did survive and I hope today's sentence helps him in some way move on from what happened to him."

Cheetham Hill resident Mr Naz, a former imam of Jaffaria Islamic Centre in north Manchester, was picking up his son from his first wife's home in June last year when he was set upon by the gang.

He was walking along Blackley New Road at about 5.30am when Fay and two other unidentified offenders drove past in a red Mazda. The three men got out the car and violently attacked Mr Naz, stabbing him in the stomach three times and in the head once.

The thugs stole his phone before getting back into the Mazda and driving off.

The car, which had been stolen from the Blackley area at around 2.30am that morning, was later found abandoned and burnt out on Old Road, Blackley.

Craig Collier, 22, of Bridge North Road, Blackley, pleaded guilty to robbery and taking a vehicle without consent in relation to the stolen car used in the attack.

He was sentenced to five years in jail in February.