The family of murdered teenager Sait Mboob say they have been left with a void that will remain forever.
Eighteen-year-old Sait was killed during a brutal gang attack in Moss Side, back in August 2017.
His family say they still live with “the nightmare of that day” two-and-a-half years later.
“We as a family are totally devastated by his loss and are consumed by the sadness and emptiness we feel knowing we will never see him again, but we will never forget him,” they say.
Their latest tribute comes a day after Chervon Pinnock was convicted for the teenager’s murder.
Pinnock, 22, is the ninth person to be found guilty of murdering Sait under the joint enterprise law.
He now faces a life sentence after a jury unanimously found him guilty after a third trial at Manchester Crown Court.
Members of Longsight and Ardwick-based gang 7M - including a 15-year-old boy - travelled in convoy to launch a knife and machete attack on Sait.
Three others were also stabbed during the mass brawl in which talented footballer Sait was killed, which unfolded on the busy streets of Moss Side in broad daylight.
Paying tribute to college student Sait, his family have today issued a new statement.
They have described the teenager as a “loving son, brother and grandson”.
“Sait was 18 years of age, still a teenager with so much to live for,” they say.
“We will never see him become an adult; we will never see him marry or have children of his own. Instead, the void in our hearts left by his absence will remain forever.
“On August 8, 2017, our lives were to change forever, when Sait was brutally attacked and ripped away from us. We as a family are totally devastated by his loss and are consumed by the sadness and emptiness we feel knowing we will never see him again, but we will never forget him.
“Two and a half years later and we still live the nightmare of that day.
“The persons who played a part in the brutal attack on Sait had every opportunity to come forward, to tell the Police their truth, but they chose not to.”
As Pinnock faces a life sentence, a further eight men are already serving similar punishments.
At the first trial Emil Bell, then 17, was found guilty and ordered to serve a minimum term of 17 years to be detained at Her Majesty’s Pleasure - the youth equivalent of life.
Laif Morgan, 23, along with Lequornne Morgan, Requan Brown, Ryan Isaacs and Husam Ghazanfar, all 19, were handed life terms following a second trial.
Kiahus Baddoo, 17, and Shayne Stewart, 16, were also given the youth equivalent of life sentences.
All eight were handed minimum terms ranging from 14 to 19 years.
Prosecutors have not been able to say who inflicted the fatal blow to Sait.
A judge previously said it will ‘probably never be known’.
But the prosecution says all those found guilty were present and part of the attack on the teenager.
Jurors heard how a murderous rivalry had developed between the two gangs and was fuelled by 'diss videos' posted online featuring 7M.
In the professionally-shot music videos, members boasted about how they would take over Moss Side.
Lyrics in tracks such as ‘Supplying’ and ‘Breaking Bad’ glorified crime and referenced ‘Gunchester’ - a nickname Manchester acquired in the darkest days of gangland rivalry.
One video featured lyrics which grimly foreshadowed Sait's murder.
In ‘Hammers Up’, Bell referred to a ‘stolen truck’, before saying ‘If you get hit then you won’t get up’.
All of the men, bar Isaacs, were said to be members of 7M.
Sait had been shopping in Manchester city centre with friends ahead of the Moss Side Caribbean Carnival on August 8, 2017.
He stepped off the 103 bus in Moss Side at around the same time that members of 7M were hanging around outside the Golden Gate chippy, on Stockport Road, near the Manchester Apollo.
Bell, a drug dealer who was in Moss Side as part of a recce, called the others to join him and launch the attack.
Soon after, Sait was informed by friends that there were ‘opponents’ in the area.
Arriving in Moss Side in a stolen Fiat 500, the car deliberately mounted the pavement to hit Sait and a friend.
They ran away towards Millennium Park, where bollards prevented the cars from entering.
But the attackers got out of the car and chased them on foot.
A mass brawl ensued, during which Sait was stabbed.
Three other men were also knifed.
Bell went to hospital after cutting his hand, claiming to have sustained the injury innocently.
A knife containing his blood was later recovered.
Some members of 7M returned to Ardwick after the attack and went to the Power League five-a-side football complex, where they celebrated what they had done.
Morgan ‘re-enacted’ the stabbings when they arrived.
Prosecutors said they were ‘behaving like a victorious football team’.
The precise motive for the attack has not been established, but there had been a history between Sait and the gang.
Members of 7M went looking for Sait back in March 2017, at Connell Sixth Form College, in Openshaw, where he was studying business.
A member of staff was punched in the face.
The following month Sait went to Forest Bank prison to visit a friend, and a brawl broke out between 7M, Sait and two of his friends.
Sait’s family have thanked Greater Manchester Police “for not giving up until they brought every identifiable person to justice”.
They added: “We would like to thank the members of public who tried to help Sait as he fought for his life and medical staff who tended to him in an attempt to bring him back to us.
“We would also like to extend our thanks to the Crown Prosecution Service, Investigation Team, Family Liaison Officers, Victim/Witness Support and Mothers Against Violence, who have all helped us throughout this process.
“We as a family ask that our privacy be respected to allow us time to grieve.”
