Colchester Distillery Lane murder trial hears phone evidence

Bako Azad Sheikha, 22, died in Distillery Lane, Colchester, after being stabbed through the heart in the early hours of September 12 last year.

Rakar Rahimi, 23, was charged with his murder after being arrested while trying to flee the country having travelled to Dover, Kent, later that day.

Prosecutors allege Rahimi stabbed and ran over Bako, who he lived with in Haven Road, Colchester, before stealing his money, phone and Nissan Qashqai car.

Inquest - a forensics team probes Distillery Lane in Colchester (Image: Daniel Rees, Newsquest)

Rahimi crashed the vehicle ten miles away in Colchester Road, near Tolleshunt D’Arcy, about 20 minutes after the first 999 call was made to the police.

Messages sent between Rahimi and two friends as he tried to get picked up following the crash were read to Chelmsford Crown Court on day two of the trial.

Read more from the trial: Man 'murdered' his flatmate in Colchester before trying to flee to France, court told

Via Snapchat, Rahimi said: “Tell him [a friend] to go to the address I will send to you. I am in serious trouble.”

He added: “Tell him to take some clothes, I have no clothes left.”

Killed - Bako Azad Sheikha (Image: Newsquest)

A video taken by the defendant, played to the jury, showed him hiding in a bush near Willow Creek Farm as he waited to be picked up.

Previously during the trial, Andrew Jackson, prosecuting, played jurors a video of Rahimi waving a knife at Bako amid a dispute over something on the latter’s phone.

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Mr Jackson alleged after murdering Bako and crashing the car, Rahimi was picked up by a friend and driven on the A12 towards Ipswich.

During this journey, the court was told Rahimi threw Bako’s phone out of the car window and it has never been found.

Cordon - police officers guard a cordon at the top of Distillery Lane (Image: Newsquest)

Rahimi later bought a £700 iPhone, a sim card and ear pods with Bako’s money in Ipswich later that day, before purchasing a single train ticket to Dover Priory.

Jurors have also been told both Rahimi and Bako arrived separately as Iraqi Kurdistan refugees in 2015.

Rahimi, of Wellington Street, Ipswich, denies murder.

• The trial continues

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