Good Samaritan killed by driver during wedding brawl, court hears

Independent

4 days ago

A feuding family member killed a 'Good Samaritan' when he 'used his car as a weapon' and ploughed into the middle of a wedding brawl, prosecutors have told a jury.
Hassan Jhangur, 25, hit five people with his Seat Ibiza when he arrived at his sister's wedding reception, where a fight had broken out between the two families.
Sheffield Crown Court heard Jhangur drove into the father of the rival Khan family, who was standing in the street, throwing him over the vehicle's bonnet.
He then crashed into a group of four people, including Chris Marriott, who was walking past and stopped to help one of Jhangur's sisters as she was lying in the road.
Jurors heard Mr Marriott was killed and the three others were injured, including off-duty midwife Alison Norris and Jhangur's own mother and sister.
The defendant then got out of the car and stabbed his new brother-in-law, Hasan Khan, several times.
The court heard he later told officers at the police station: 'That's why you don't mess with the Jhangurs.'
Jhangur, of Whiteways Road, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, denies the murder and manslaughter of Mr Marriott, but has pleaded guilty to causing Mr Marriott's death by dangerous driving.
Jason Pitter KC, opening the trial to jurors on Thursday, said the prosecution case is that Jhangur is guilty of murder because he intended 'at the very least to cause really serious harm' when he used his car as a weapon.
He said that although Jhangur's target may have been the Khan family, 'the law says your intentions can be transferred from one person to another, even if he did not intend to hit that particular person'.
Mr Pitter said the 'public spirit' of Mr Marriott and Ms Norris 'brought them unwittingly into the midst of a family dispute', which had spilled out into the street in the Burngreave area of Sheffield on December 27 2023.
Mr Pitter said a wedding between Amaani Jhangur and Hasan Khan, which had taken place that morning, 'appears to have been at the heart of the tension'.
He told jurors: 'Although Amaani's family may have been relatively happy about the marriage itself, an issue arose over the timing and location of the wedding and escalated to Amaani falling out with her own mother and sisters.
'In the end, none of her family attended the wedding ceremony at the mosque.'
The court heard that when Amaani Jhangur was at the Khan family home in College Court after the wedding, her mother Ambreen Jhangur and sister Nafeesa Jhangur arrived, and an increasingly 'unpleasant' argument in the street escalated into violence, and led to Nafeesa Jhangur being rendered unconscious, probably by members of the Khan family.
Mr Marriott, who was out with his family on a post-Christmas walk, saw Nafessa Jhangur lying in the road and decided, 'fatefully', to see whether he could help, while his wife and children returned home.
Ms Norris, who was also out walking with her partner and children, did the same thing.
'Those actions to help in the dispute were to unwittingly seal their fate,' Mr Pitter said.
The court heard Jhangur had been told about his sister being injured, and arrived at the scene in a Seat Ibiza, driving into Hasan Khan's father, Riasat Khan, who was standing in the middle of the road talking to a 999 call operator.
Mr Pitter said Riasat Khan 'would have been clearly visible to the defendant' and his intention 'could only have been to cause at least really serious harm'.
The court heard Riasat Khan was thrown up on to the bonnet and cartwheeled over the roof of the vehicle, as it continued 'without apparently braking or deviating from its path'.
The Seat then hit a group of four people in the road who were attending to Nafeesa Jhangur – Nafeesa Jhangur herself, Ambreen Jhangur, Ms Norris and Mr Marriott – before coming to a stop in a nearby front garden.
Mr Marriott was wedged completely underneath the car and showed no signs of life when emergency services tipped the vehicle to get to him.
Mr Pitter said Jhangur got out of the car while the engine was still running and stabbed Hasan Khan multiple times to the left side of his head and to his chest, with a knife be had brought with him.
Jhangur has admitted causing serious injury to Alison Norris, Ambreen Jhangur, Nafeesa Jhangur and Riasat Khan by dangerous driving, but also pleaded not guilty to four charges of causing grievous bodily harm with intent.
He denies attempting to murder Hasan Khan and wounding him with intent.
His father, Mohammed Jhangur, 57, of Whiteways Road, Sheffield, denies a charge of perverting the course of justice, which relates to him allegedly concealing a knife.
The trial continues.