A petty criminal who almost decapitating a rival in a cafe selling the legal drug khat was today jailed.
Ayanle Adan, 26, of Southend-on-Sea, Essex, was sentenced to at least 26 years in prison after he launched a surprise attack on Hanad Osman, 24, after buying two knives from a Sainsbury’s store.
Mr Osman, who was looking at his phone, suffered an 8in gash to his neck and bled to death at the scene in front of shocked customers at the Waaberi Business Centre in Streatham, south London.
Killer: Ayanle Adan (left), 26, of Southend-on-Sea, Essex, was sentenced to at least 26 years in prison after he launched a surprise attack on Hanad Osman (right), 24, after buying two knives from a Sainsbury’s store
Adan then used a ‘double slashing motion’ with a knife in each hand to cause ‘partial decapitation’ of Mr Osman’s head at the café, which is a meeting place for Somalians and other khat users.
The killer who has 18 previous convictions for 26 offences ranging from assault to vehicle taking - claimed he was only trying to ‘scare’ Hanad after the victim threatened him with a knife.
He was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment with the Recorder of London, Judge Brian Barker QC, telling him: ‘This was described by one of the officers as a partial decapitation.
‘The real background to this killing may never fully emerge. For reasons beyond the understanding of the court you initiated a surprise attack when you were in no danger.
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‘This was a planned killing. It was done in front of others and was totally unacceptable. It was a waste of a young life and no doubt his family have been severely affected by his death.
‘On any view you have been leading a life of crime. This behaviour in public displays a complete disregard for human life and outrages and horrifies the community who have come to hear about it.’
Adan, who was addicted to khat, was one of many young men who gathered at the Waaberi Business Centre to use the plant, which gives users a feeling of euphoria when chewed.
CCTV of the yard outside a cafe at the centre revealed that he left just seconds after Mr Osman’s arrival at around 6.36pm on August 21 last year.
Location: Hanad Osman, who was looking at his phone, suffered an 8in gash to his neck and bled to death at the scene in front of shocked customers at the Waaberi Business Centre in Streatham, south London
Adan and his friend Ahmed Hassan headed first to Morrison’s supermarket to look at scissors before walking down the road to Sainsbury’s.
They selected two knives, which were paid for by Hassan, and then got a lift back to the Waaberi Business Centre in an Audi Q7. At 7.12pm Adan got out of the car and walked straight through the gate to the yard where Mr Osman was sitting.
The blow severed the exterior jugular vein and cut into the very top of the spine, leaving an 8in wound stretching from the middle of the neck to the left side of the mouth.
'This was a planned killing. It was done in front of others and was totally unacceptable. It was a waste of a young life and no doubt his family have been severely affected by his death'
Recorder of London, Judge Brian Barker
Adan also swung with the second knife in his left hand but missed.
Adan and Hassan fled to a ‘safe house’ in Stratford, east London, where they were arrested three days later. Adan made no comment but Hassan told officers: ‘I was there but I didn’t do anything.’
Hassan was said to be jointly responsible for the murder because he bought the knives and went back to the scene with Adan even though he did not physically take part in the attack.
The jury cleared Hassan of both murder and manslaughter and he walked free from court. Adan and Hassan both denied murder.
KHAT: A STIMULANT GIVING A MILD ECSTASY-LIKE HIGH THAT IS LEGAL IN UK
Legal drug: Khat is a leafy stimulant that gives you a mild ecstasy or amphetamine-like high
Khat is a leafy stimulant grown in East Africa and Yemen that gives you a mild ecstasy or amphetamine-like high for as long as you chew it.
For centuries, Christian hermits in the mountains of Ethiopia called it the ‘food of the pious’, using it to suppress sleep and hunger while they sat up all night studying the Bible.
Nineteenth-century explorer Sir Richard Burton believed khat was the plant of the Lotos eaters in Homer’s Odyssey.
The Netherlands, famously liberal in its attitude towards drugs, is the latest country to introduce a ban on khat. It is already illegal in most other European countries and Canada.
In the U.S., khat is regarded as a narcotic ranked alongside heroin and cocaine. Convicted smugglers are given long jail sentences.
But in Britain, the Government has relied on advice from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, which has repeatedly held back from recommending a ban.