Young man who stabbed Yousef Makki to death four years…

Young man who stabbed Yousef Makki to death four years ago faces giving evidence at another inquest

The young man who stabbed to death his friend Yousef Makki almost four years ago is to likely to face giving evidence for a third time after judges ordered a fresh inquest.

Joshua Molnar, then 17, told a jury he was acting in self-defence when he stabbed Yousef, also 17, through the heart on leafy Gorse Bank Road in affluent Hale Barns on March 2, 2019. He said Yousef had pushed him and pulled a knife first - he was acquitted of murder and manslaughter following a trial.

The Makki family fought for and won an inquest in 2021 where Molnar said he couldn't remember who pulled a knife first. Now aged 21, he is to be asked again about how he ended up stabbing his friend to death in a fresh inquest expected later this year.

Molnar was handed a 16-month detention and training order after admitting possessing the knife which inflicted the fatal injury and lying to police at the scene at his 2019 trial.

Today High Court judges quashed the decision of the original inquest and have directed a fresh inquest before a different coroner.

The judgment said the judges could 'not discern an attempt to analyse' events immediately prior to the stabbing and there was 'no indication' the coroner had 'assessed the reliability' of Molnar's evidence at the inquest.

Senior South Manchester Coroner Alison Mutch had noted Molnar had lied in the aftermath of the stabbing but 'seemingly disregards this' in her findings as this had been dealt with during the criminal trial, according to the judgment.

The coroner had accepted the evidence of another friend, Adam Chowdhary, 17 at the time of the stabbing, about a knife he removed from Yousef but was 'silent' on any conclusions about this or how this weighed against what Molnar had said about it, said the judges.

Ms Mutch 'failed to address the credibility of Joshua Molnar in light of his inconsistent accounts', said the judgment.

Fellow MGS student Chowdhary, now 20, from Hale Barns, who described Yousef as his 'best friend', was acquitted of perverting the course of justice. He was given a four-month detention order after admitting possession of a flick knife, one of two he claimed he and Yousef had jointly ordered online during a break from lessons at MGS.

The judgment said of the coroner: "She had not analysed the accounts sufficiently or at all to address the preponderance of the evidence in one direction or another. There was no explanation as to why she was 'profoundly unsure' in these respects. Taken together, the evidence presented a compelling picture of an unlawful killing."

Lady Justice Macur concluded: "Consequently, whilst I do not consider that the evidence necessarily all points in one direction, neither can I be satisfied that (the coroner) has assessed all relevant evidence or analysed the findings of fact she made.

Joshua Molnar is now 21 (Manchester Evening News)

"(The coroner's) generic reference to her consideration of the 'totality' of the evidence is inadequate to convey that she did ‘strive’ to reach a conclusion upon the evidence. If she did so but was left profoundly unsure then she did not explain why."

The new inquest, which is expected to be before a current or retired judge rather than a Greater Manchester coroner, is expected to widen the scope of the questioning allowed at the original inquest.

Both Molnar and Chowdhary appeared voluntarily at the original inquest, and are likely to be asked to attend again as witnesses, where they can expect to face more detailed questioning than they did at the original inquest of events on the day of the stabbing.

Both young men are understood to be currently outside Greater Manchester, having long since been freed from relatively short custodial sentences.

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