Racists jailed for 'abominable' murder of boy
Not recorded | 09.11.2006 10:49
Three men were jailed for life yesterday for the “diabolical” race-hate murder of a 15-year-old schoolboy.
The three, who terrorised the Glasgow community where they lived, were convicted of murdering Kriss Donald at the end of an emotionally charged six-week trial.
The three, who terrorised the Glasgow community where they lived, were convicted of murdering Kriss Donald at the end of an emotionally charged six-week trial.
The slightly built boy was stabbed 13 times and then set on fire while he was still alive, simply because he had white skin.
Judge Lord Uist told the three killers that the “savage and barbaric nature of this notorious crime has rightly shocked and appalled the public”.
At the High Court in Edinburgh Imran Shahid, 29, was ordered to spend at least 25 years behind bars. When he murdered Kriss he had only been out of prison for three months after serving a 30-month sentence for a road-rage attack on a woman.
His brother, Zeeshan Shahid, 28, must spend 23 years in prison before being considered for parole and Mohammad Faisal Mushtaq, 27, will serve 22 years for the abduction and murder of Kriss on March 15, 2004.
All three had fled to Pakistan after the killing, believing that they were beyond the reach of British justice because the two countries had no extradition agreement. But improving co-operation between Britain and Pakistan over the deportation of terror suspects was extended to deal with other serious criminals.
In June 2005, armed Pakistani police swooped on a flat in Lahore and a remote farmhouse in Punjab and arrested all three men. Four months later the trio agreed to return to Scotland to stand trial rather than spend any more time in Rawalpindi prison.
That trial ended yesterday with the judge telling them that they had been convicted of the murder of a “wholly innocent” teenage boy. The judge continued: “He was selected as your victim only because he was white and walking in a certain part of the Pollokshields area of Glasgow when you sought out a victim.
“This murder consists of the premeditated, cold-blooded execution of your victim by stabbing him 13 times and setting alight with petrol while he was still alive. It truly was an abomination.
“The agony which he must have suffered during the period between being stabbed and set alight and his death is just beyond imagination.” The boy’s mother, Angela, shouted: “You bastards” towards the killers as the jury returned guilty verdicts.
Kriss had been taken on a terrifying 200-mile journey across Scotland before being driven to a deserted spot on the banks of the Clyde, where he was stabbed, set alight and left for dead. He had dragged himself 50 yards in the darkness and rolled in a muddy puddle to try to extinguish the flames. He left a trail of blood, scorched earth and fragments of burnt clothing in his wake.
All three accused denied murder, but the jury of six men and nine women found Imran Shahid guilty by unanimous verdict and the other two guilty by majority verdicts.
The judge said Imran Shahid had taken the lead role. The judge told him: “It is clear to me from your criminal record and the evidence I have heard that you are a thug and a bully with a sadistic nature and that you are not fit to be at liberty in a civilised society.”
Kriss lived a few streets from his killers but did not know them. Half the population of Pollokshields is Asian, mainly of Pakistani origin, and in general the communities exist peacefully, but separately. But for some time residents had complained to police about drug and drink-fuelled clashes between Asian and white gangs.
Kriss, whose only declared allegiance was to Glasgow Rangers, did not belong to any gangs. Known as “Krypto”, he was regarded as the “man of the house” in McCulloch Street, where he lived with his mother, older sister and three younger siblings.
Judge Lord Uist told the three killers that the “savage and barbaric nature of this notorious crime has rightly shocked and appalled the public”.
At the High Court in Edinburgh Imran Shahid, 29, was ordered to spend at least 25 years behind bars. When he murdered Kriss he had only been out of prison for three months after serving a 30-month sentence for a road-rage attack on a woman.
His brother, Zeeshan Shahid, 28, must spend 23 years in prison before being considered for parole and Mohammad Faisal Mushtaq, 27, will serve 22 years for the abduction and murder of Kriss on March 15, 2004.
All three had fled to Pakistan after the killing, believing that they were beyond the reach of British justice because the two countries had no extradition agreement. But improving co-operation between Britain and Pakistan over the deportation of terror suspects was extended to deal with other serious criminals.
In June 2005, armed Pakistani police swooped on a flat in Lahore and a remote farmhouse in Punjab and arrested all three men. Four months later the trio agreed to return to Scotland to stand trial rather than spend any more time in Rawalpindi prison.
That trial ended yesterday with the judge telling them that they had been convicted of the murder of a “wholly innocent” teenage boy. The judge continued: “He was selected as your victim only because he was white and walking in a certain part of the Pollokshields area of Glasgow when you sought out a victim.
“This murder consists of the premeditated, cold-blooded execution of your victim by stabbing him 13 times and setting alight with petrol while he was still alive. It truly was an abomination.
“The agony which he must have suffered during the period between being stabbed and set alight and his death is just beyond imagination.” The boy’s mother, Angela, shouted: “You bastards” towards the killers as the jury returned guilty verdicts.
Kriss had been taken on a terrifying 200-mile journey across Scotland before being driven to a deserted spot on the banks of the Clyde, where he was stabbed, set alight and left for dead. He had dragged himself 50 yards in the darkness and rolled in a muddy puddle to try to extinguish the flames. He left a trail of blood, scorched earth and fragments of burnt clothing in his wake.
All three accused denied murder, but the jury of six men and nine women found Imran Shahid guilty by unanimous verdict and the other two guilty by majority verdicts.
The judge said Imran Shahid had taken the lead role. The judge told him: “It is clear to me from your criminal record and the evidence I have heard that you are a thug and a bully with a sadistic nature and that you are not fit to be at liberty in a civilised society.”
Kriss lived a few streets from his killers but did not know them. Half the population of Pollokshields is Asian, mainly of Pakistani origin, and in general the communities exist peacefully, but separately. But for some time residents had complained to police about drug and drink-fuelled clashes between Asian and white gangs.
Kriss, whose only declared allegiance was to Glasgow Rangers, did not belong to any gangs. Known as “Krypto”, he was regarded as the “man of the house” in McCulloch Street, where he lived with his mother, older sister and three younger siblings.
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