A man has been convicted of manslaughter for his involvement in an armed robbery at a warehouse in Birmingham city centre during which a respected businessman was shot dead.
Suraj Mistry, 26, and 19-year-old Lamar Wali targeted a cash-and-carry run by 56-year-old Akhtar Javeed (pictured), who was working on the evening of the robbery along with five other members of staff.
Mistry, of Laundon Way, Leicester, burst in to the building at 6.30pm with another man – believed to be 25-year-old Tahir Zarif, who later fled to Pakistan – and the pair threatened workers with handguns, binding their hands together with cable ties.
Wali, of Osmaston Park Road in Derby, was the driver who dropped them off and waited outside for the getaway.
But the raid went horrifically wrong as they threatened the manager, Mr Javeed, to give up the company’s takings. While Mistry held staff hostage at gunpoint Zarif led Mr Javeed from the office into the reception where he shot him in the leg as a violent warning in order for him to open the safe.
After being shot Mr Javeed attempted to escape and during the ensuing struggle was shot a further two times at point blank range in the mouth and neck. Bravely, he managed to escape before stumbling across the car park to the pavement where he collapsed and died in a pool of his own blood.
The men immediately fled the scene in a Renault Megane, picked up a second car nearby and then returned to Derby.
Although Tahir Zarif is thought to have been the gunman who actually pulled the trigger, Mistry and Wali were both charged with murder under joint enterprise.
At Birmingham Crown Court the men were convicted of conspiracy to commit robbery and although they were both cleared of murder, Mistry was found guilty of manslaughter and possession of firearms.
Another man - Sander van Aalten, a Dutch national - had already pleaded guilty to conspiracy to rob before the trial. The jury heard how the former disgruntled employee drew a plan of the warehouse for his co-conspirators so they knew exactly where to go once inside.
Sentencing is due to take place on 27 September.
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