[ad_1]
The father of Azzam Raguragui, who was stabbed to death in a park in South Dublin last year, said he will never forget how his “innocent young man was tortured, persecuted and killed” before he was “bled to death. “.
Abdul Raguragui spoke during the sentencing hearing at the Central Criminal Court for the 17-year-old who was found guilty of murder.
Judge Paul McDermot said he will sentence the teenager this afternoon.
Azzam’s mother, Hajiba, described the murder as “evil.”
Azzam was killed during a “fight” between the two groups of young people at Finsbury Park in Dundrum on May 10, 2019 after a fight over a stolen bicycle.
He was stabbed five times by the 17-year-old who pleaded “in excessive self-defense” and was found not guilty of murder, but guilty of manslaughter.
Today, Azzam’s father told the court that the murder was “committed by a person who does not respect human life.”
He said in his statement on the impact of the victim that Azzam was “tortured, persecuted and killed” and “bled to death” in the park.
The last words she said to her son that day were “take care” after they hugged and kissed.
Mr. Raguragui said that the “glow” had now disappeared from their lives.
He added: “His family may visit his son. I am taking my family to an empty cemetery. I can’t imagine how scared he must have been during that horrible nightmare.”
We need your consent to upload this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage additional content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Review your data and accept it to load the content.Manage preferences
Azzam’s mother in her statement on the impact of the victim described how the family followed the ambulance and when they allowed her to see her son in the hospital, he was “covered in blood, from head to toe.”
“There was blood everywhere. I never thought I’d see it like this,” he said. “Who can do that? He’s not human, he’s evil.”
He also asked “why” had this happened. “It’s not fair,” he said.
“Why? By bike? A bike? Something cheap? Really?”
This morning, lead attorney Michael Bowman read a statement from the defendant’s family in which his mother said her thoughts and prayers were with Azzam’s family.
“I know one day I’ll have him back,” she said of her son.
“I’m sorry they don’t have that opportunity. I pray for them every day. It’s a really heartbreaking situation.”
They also said that the boy regretted what he had done and the defense attorney said that the boy had told Gardaí that he was “very sorry” for what happened and for Azzam’s family. “
The court heard that the boy was 16 at the time of the murder, that his parents had separated, that they had become homeless and were living in an emergency hotel at the time.
Prosecutor James Dwyer told the court that the boy had been the subject of three juvenile reprimands by the gardaí, two informal and one formal, which meant he was subject to supervision for 12 months.
The first two were for slapping two boys in a row on an all-weather pitch at a soccer club in June 2018, while the formal warning was for following and attacking another teenager who was with his girlfriend in Stillorgan in October 2018 .
He was under the supervisory terms of that formal warning at the time he killed Azzam.
[ad_2]