A “trivial” beer can throw led to a middle-aged man being chased from a railway station and repeatedly stabbed in a vicious assault.
Modasher Hossain, who is known as Sharif, was making his way home from work at a Herne Bay restaurant when he was attacked in the early hours of December 17 last year.
The 55-year-old was found prone and motionless in a pool of blood in a nearby alleyway. He was face-down in foliage with his eyes open, making gurgling noises and breathing heavily.
As well as suffering multiple knife wounds to his leg and buttock, Mr Hossain also sustained a traumatic brain injury and has not been able to tell police what happened to him after he had alighted from a train at Whitstable station.
But jurors at Canterbury Crown Court heard that CCTV, together with eye-witness accounts, depicted events surrounding the “brutal” assault carried out in what the prosecution say was a ‘joint enterprise’ by Lewis Day and Daryl Brown.
After the stabbing, Brown, 32, is also alleged to have been overheard shouting they would “get done for attempted murder”, only for 25-year-old Day to allegedly reply it would be murder as they were “going to leave him here to die”.
The pair deny wounding Mr Hossain with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, as well as the alternative, less serious offence of unlawful wounding.
At the start of their trial on Thursday (June 27), prosecutor James Harrison told the court: “After a seemingly trivial incident on the platform of Whitstable railway station, Mr Hossain was chased from the station by the defendants and stabbed multiple times in an alleyway nearby.
“He lay there in a pool of his own blood until he was discovered by a concerned member of the public.
“Cameras inside Whitstable train station from the platforms show an incident which seems to have sparked the chase and this brutal assault.
“Importantly there is CCTV from outside which shows the defendants chasing Mr Hossain out of sight but towards an alleyway where his semi-conscious body was found a short time later.
“CCTV footage shows them returning to the station. That footage is supplemented by evidence from individuals nearby who heard conversations that give insight into what happened in the alleyway.”
Day, of Hereson Road, Ramsgate, and Brown, of Tomlin Drive, Margate, were on the London-bound platform with Day’s sister, Sophie Judd, when Mr Hossain’s train pulled in just before midnight.
Having disembarked, he walked along the platform towards the exit, and appeared to stop and speak to the train conductor.
Meanwhile, CCTV showed Day, Brown and Miss Judd, who was also Brown’s girlfriend, leaving the same platform and heading towards the Margate-bound one.
It was at this point that Mr Hossain could be seen picking up what turned out to be a phone left behind by Miss Judd.
Mr Harrison told the court there was some cross-platform communication between the parties before Day climbed onto the tracks and headed across to where Mr Hossain handed him the phone.
It was at this point that Brown could be seen to throw a beer can at the restaurant worker.
It did not make contact but, after landing near his foot, Mr Hossain picked it up and threw it back, sparking the chase as a result.
“With the benefit of hindsight, it may be thought Mr Hossain acted unwisely in throwing the can back towards them, but again it did not hit anybody and looks as though it did not reach the other platform,” explained the prosecutor.
“After doing so he makes his way quickly down the stairs and out of the station. However, that triggered an almost instant and disproportionate reaction from the defendants.”
Mr Harrison said as they and Miss Judd dashed from the platform, across the bridge and down towards the exit Mr Hossain had used, it was “obvious” they were pursuing him.
A camera outside the station caught Mr Hossain running away, followed by Brown, with Day a few seconds behind and finally his sister.
But having fled along the front of the station and into the alleyway, all four then went out of sight.
The court heard Miss Judd reappeared within a few seconds, while Brown and Day remained out of view for longer, during which time, said Mr Harrison, they “stabbed him five times in a vicious assault” and left effectively unconscious on the ground.
As the trio returned to the station, they could be heard arguing.
Brown is alleged to have told Day: “I don’t care because I wasn’t the one who stabbed him, you did”, followed by: “I saw you stab him”.
A member of the public, George Broadbent, had gone to the station to meet a friend when he saw a man – said to be Day – hitting a woman – Miss Judd – while repeatedly telling her to ‘Shut up’ as she asked: “Why did you stab him?”
Concerned by what he had heard, Mr Broadbent looked to see if anyone had been stabbed and, at the rear of the station, saw a man – alleged to be Brown – pacing around and carrying a wine bottle before he was joined by the others outside the entrance to Platform Two.
Jurors were told Mr Broadbent then heard Brown allegedly shouting: “You stabbed someone, you f***ing stabbed someone…. We’re going to get done for attempted murder”.
It was then, the prosecution say, that Day responded with: “No we’re not, we’re going to get done for murder, we’re going to leave him here to die”.
It is alleged Day also claimed to have discarded the knife and, when Miss Judd ran to a car, both men shouted out “You better not be phoning the police”.
All three then got on a train and, knowing that it was due to leave and concerned that they had stabbed someone, Mr Broadbent ran to the front of the station towards the alley.
Jurors were told he could see something on the ground and, as he drew closer , realised it was a man – Mr Hossain.
The prosecutor said: “He kept trying to ask him if he was OK. it sounded like he was trying to talk back. However, he was just making moaning noises and was breathing heavily.”
Mr Broadbent then ran back to the main road for help and a 999 call was made.
First to arrive were paramedic Mark Wood and Special Constable Fred Wright. Bodyworn camera footage of the alarming scene that greeted them and the initial attempts to assist Mr Hossain was played in court.
Jurors also heard that having got on a train that had pulled into the station at 12.15am, CCTV captured a fight in which Brown hit Day with a bottle, resulting in Brown and Miss Judd disembarking.
Day however stayed onboard, only to be arrested at 12.48am after the train pulled into Margate station. He told police he had had a fight with his sister’s boyfriend.
When the emergency services first arrived in Whitstable, SC Wright encountered Brown still at the station and was told by him (Brown) that he had “done nothing”.
He then went on to blame “a big fight among teens” when the officer mentioned the report of a stabbing, the court was told.
Mr Hossain was taken to King’s College Hospital in London, where the knife wounds were stitched. Once the brain injury had been detected, he was put into an induced coma and admitted to the intensive care unit.
The jury was told that such head injuries can be a consequence of blunt force trauma from being struck with a hard object, being punched or kicked, or falling onto a hard surface.
Brown was eventually arrested on Station Road just before 2am. Later, while in custody, he asked officers: “Why haven’t you nicked Sophie’s brother who we were with?”
Although Day gave a ‘No comment’ interview to police, Brown was “more forthcoming”, said Mr Harrison.
He said that they and Miss Judd had gone to Whitstable to beg. He recalled his girlfriend losing her phone and Day shouting out to a man – Mr Hossain – and asking if he could see it on the platform.
But Brown told police that when Day returned from crossing the tracks and failed to mention he had retrieved the phone, he got himself “worked up” thinking the man had stolen it.
He admitted that he had then thrown his beer can at him, and that Mr Hossain shouted and chucked it back in response before running towards the car park.
The court heard Brown recalled going after Mr Hossain and, on reaching stairs by the alley, said he had challenged him about still having the phone.
He told police Mr Hossain, who was further down the alleyway, informed him however that he had handed it back.
Brown said he then headed towards the station, only for Day to sprint past him and into the alley.
Having walked back and spoken to Miss Judd, Brown said he was confused as to why Day had carried on pursuing the man.
He then told police that when Day re-joined them a few minutes later, he sat between them, took a knife from his pocket and said “I’ve just stabbed that man” before adding, “It was only a little one, he’ll be fine”.
Brown said that he thought Day was joking and when Miss Judd began shouting, Day grabbed his sister, told her to shut up, that nothing had happened and he had just made it up.
He also maintained that Day threatened to stab him too.
Recalling the fight on the train, Brown told officers Day punctured the palm of his (Brown’s) palm with his knife and that he threw a bottle at Day.
The court heard he maintained that he did not witness the attack and was not aware of anyone being injured until Day mentioned that he had stabbed someone.
Explaining the two charges faced by the men, Mr Harrison told the jury it was the prosecution case that both defendants were guilty of the more serious offence of wounding with intent.
But he added it was likely they would blame each other.
“The prosecution say this was two men acting together in what is known as a joint enterprise. They intended to inflict unlawful and really serious injury on Mr Hossain,” said Mr Harrison.
“It does not matter that there is no CCTV evidence of the assault itself showing which one of them or whether both actually stabbed Mr Hossain.
“If you are satisfied of a joint intention, then each is liable for the acts committed by the other even if the role of one is to encourage or assist.
“Mr Hossain clearly did not have these grave injuries when he was chased by these two defendants and went out of camera shot.
“”By the time they returned into view, Mr Hossain had been stabbed multiple times in a way which clearly demonstrates an intention to inflict grievous bodily harm.
“He had also sustained a head injury – whether from falling or from a blow we cannot say – but clearly related to the assault upon him.
“It will no doubt be argued on behalf of the defendants that the other was responsible.”
The trial is expected to continue on Monday (July 1).
