A DYING man was repeatedly struck on the legs with a weapon as he lay fatally injured at the roadside after being hit by a vehicle, a jury at Bradford Crown Court heard today.

Amriz Iqbal, 40, was attacked by a male wearing a balaclava and carrying what looked like a crowbar as he was unconscious and bleeding on a grassed area to the side of Sandford Road, Bradford Moor, the jury was told.

AS IT HAPPENED

Mr Iqbal, a father of three, of Curzon Road, Bradford Moor, was struck by a silver Kia Sedona shortly after 1pm on Wednesday, October 3 last year.

It is alleged that the vehicle was deliberately driven at him and his friend, Adnan Ahmed, by Mohammed Nisar Khan, known as Meggy, with Tony Grant in the passenger seat.

Khan, 41, of Holme Lane, Tong, Bradford, and Grant, 39, of Queens Road, Bradford, deny murdering Mr Iqbal and attempting to murder Mr Ahmed.

They also deny conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, along with Salman Ismail, 31, of Hollin Road, Shipley, Bradford, and Nadeem Khan, 35, of Gledhow Wood Road, Roundhay, Leeds.

It is the Crown’s case that Mohammed Nisar Khan swerved the Kia Sedona into the two pedestrians, with Grant, a long-time associate, in the front seat and others as yet unidentified, also in the vehicle.

Today, prosecutor Peter Moulson QC read statements from eye witnesses at the collision scene.

Adnan Ahmed said he saw a silver car but had no recollection of it striking him and Mr Iqbal as they crossed the road together.

“All I can recall after this is waking up on the floor with a blanket over me,” he said in a statement read to the packed courtroom.

TOP STORIES:

He continued: “I don’t know why this occurred. I have no issues with anyone at all.”

Younis Khalifa said he had known Mr Iqbal, known as Major, for seven to eight years.

They chatted on Sandford Road for about five minutes shortly before Mr Iqbal was fatally injured.

“He was in good spirits, happy and in good health,” Mr Khalifa stated.

Mr Khalifa said he went into his home nearby and heard a car speeding and doing what sounded like handbrake turns.

A lot of people were passing the window and he went to see what was happening.

He saw two “bodies” on the ground and realised one of them was Major.

He was completely unconscious and unresponsive and there was a large pool of blood near his head.

Mr Khalifa said his friend’s pulse was slow and weak.

“I was in shock. I have never witnessed anyone in the condition Major was in,” he stated.

Fozia Iqbal saw two males walking down the road and then heard a loud bang.

A male was in mid air and hit the ground with “a kind of bounce.”

A silver car drove off, stopped and reversed about five yards. A male got out of the side door wearing a balaclava and a hood and carrying what looked like a crow bar.

“He started to hit the male on the grassed area to his legs several times,” she said.

By this time a large crowd had gathered.

A second male was lying next to a parked car and he was breathing.

Farhd Masood stated that he had known Major for about 25 years.

“He was a nice, polite, funny, guy who would do anything for anybody,” Mr Masood said.

He had been in Dubai to set up a business project.

On October 3, the men had arranged to meet but Mr Iqbal did not show up.

Mr Masood went to the collision scene and saw Major on the ground getting chest compression from ambulance staff.

He was taken to Leeds General Infirmary and Mr Masood was at the hospital waiting for news when he was told that his friend had passed away.

Home Office pathologist, Dr Matthew Lyall, told the court that Mr Iqbal died from a severe non survivable blunt force head injury.

His injuries were consistent with being hit by a vehicle and propelled on to an unyielding surface, such as the ground or a tree.

There were extensive fractures to the front of the skull, which “crumbled” in the impact, with sharp pieces of bone cutting the scalp.

Bruising to the back of the knee meant Mr Iqbal could have been struck with one or more blunt objects while lying on the ground.

Mr Moulson alleged that co-defendants Nadeem Khan and Salman Ismail helped Mohammed Nisar Khan and Tony Grant to cover their tracks.

He said the Kia Sedona was insured in Nadeem Khan’s name and thirty minutes after the collision, he was told to: “Get that Kia off the MID (Motor Insurance Database).

At 11pm on October 3, a window at the rear of the Whitehall Road Service Station, where it is alleged that Mohammed Nisar Khan and Grant refuelled the Kia Sedona before Mr Iqbal was killed, was broken.

Mr Moulson said there was a flash of light as two disguised males tried to set the kiosk on fire. When that failed, an attempt was made the following day to rob the CCTV from the kiosk but the attendant chased two men in face masks away.

It is alleged that Ismail was implicated in attempts to burn down the petrol station and to rob the CCTV.

The trial continues.