Hartlepool shotgun murder accused tells court he lied to police out of fear of killers

Noza Saffari, 39, is one of four men on trial at Teesside Crown Court who deny the murder of alleged cannabis dealer Hamawand Ali Hussain.

His body was found after he was shot inside a derelict house in Charterhouse Street, off Oxford Road, on September 14, in 2019.

Prosecutors claim the men on trial were part of a plot by a gang of drug dealers to lure Mr Hussain to the house in order to execute him.

Saffari told the jury he is a handyman who went with Mr Hussain to Charterhouse Street to look at a possible removals job.

Giving evidence on Monday, Saffari said Mr Hussain was shot by a gunman inside following a brief conversation.

On Tuesday, he admitted lying to the police when interviewed shortly after the murder by saying there were up to nine men in the house and Mr Hussain was still alive when he left.

In evidence, Saffari said after the killing the gunman ordered him to go with others from the house and get in a black car parked nearby.

Asked by his barrister John Elvidge QC how Saffari felt about what he had witnessed he said: “Fear entered my heart. Frightened, scared.”

He said another man who had had an axe in the house told him not to identify them and if questioned by police to say Mr Hussain was still alive.

Saffari, of Park Lane Middlesbrough, said the gunman also threatened him and his family.

The trial continues.

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