A fireman was called to put out a blaze on his own stolen car after it was used in a murder shooting, for which a Glasgow man stands trial.
A court has heard how a Ford Kuga played a key role in the shotgun killing of Abdul Rahman Abubaker on May 15, 2018 - a week after it was taken from an address in Birmingham.
Five men - one of whom is Shire Elmi, aged 23, who lives in Glasgow - are on trial charged with murder, perverting the course of justice and arson at Birmingham Crown Court.
Opening the case on Tuesday, August 17, prosecutor Annabel Darlow said the 24-year-old victim was leaving a barbecue in Highgate to celebrate the start of Ramadan, when he was blasted from his quad bike at 10.53pm, reports Birmingham Live.
The fatal shot was said to have been fired from the occupants of the Kuga or a Volkswagen Passat, which were in a three-car convoy along with an Audi A3 nearby.
At 10.59pm the Kuga was reported on fire at Hams Road in Alum Rock, which was thought to have been an earlier rally point for the killers.
Ms Darlow said it had been stolen on May 9 and it was sheer 'coincidence' the firefighter who owned it, was on duty and called out to the vehicle as it was engulfed in flames.
She said: "After it was stolen, he was on duty as a firefighter when he was called to the scene of a car on fire. He discovered the vehicle which was burning was none other than his own Ford Kuga which had been stolen so shortly before.
"As investigators discovered, it had been used just minutes before in the shooting of Mr Abubaker and was, for a number of reasons, the vehicle from which Mr Abubaker was likely shot."
The A3 was also stolen from an address in Kings Heath. It was set on fire in Alum Rock on May 18 that year, the prosecutor said.
The defendants are Abdirahman Yusuf, aged 23, from Albert Road, Aston, Mustafa Omar, aged 21, of no fixed address, Shire Elmi, aged 23, of Cogan Street, Glasgow, Fahmi Daahir, aged 23, of Finstall Close, Nechells, and Abdirahman Dirie, aged 20, of no fixed address.
They deny murder, perverting the course of justice and arson in relation to the Kuga.
Daahir and Yusuf face an additional count of arson in relation to the Audi which Yusuf has confessed to.
The trial continues.
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