Delivery driver 'ran for his life moments before Yasir Hussain killed'
A delivery driver "ran for his life" after being ambushed by a group with metal bars, firearms and a machete before his passenger was stabbed to death.
Father-of-four Yasir Hussain was fatally knifed in the back as he tried to flee from the Golden City restaurant in Dudley after the car he was in was rammed by a van.
The driver of the Fiesta, Morrad Hussain, who is believed to have been the intended victim of the attack, escaped up an alleyway, Birmingham Crown Court heard.
Nabeel Choudhary, 21, and Arkash Tasleem, 24, are charged with murdering 34-year-old Yasir Hussain outside the takeaway on December 4 last year.
Mr Hussain said Yasir, from Burnley, came with him for a delivery as he had been told there was "a threat".
Rammed
They completed one delivery when his car was rammed by a van while sat outside the shop, he said.
Mr Hussain said: "All of a sudden I heard the engine rev up, I said to Yasir 'they're here'.
"As soon as I said that to him it was seconds, I was shoved with the impact of the van.
"After the first or the second impact I said to Yasir 'get ready to run'.
"As soon as the second impact happened I said to Yasir 'let's run' so I opened my door, turned to exit.
"I never saw Yasir, I didn't know if he got away.
"I got out my car looked over my roof and I recognised Nabeel Choudhary and Arkash Tasleem and they saw me."
Mr Hussain said Choudhary had a gun in his hand.
'Threat'
"It made me think, this is a real threat," he added. "It was pointing above my roof, so directly at me.
"Akash had a machete in his hand."
Mr Hussain was asked to show the jury the length of the machete, and Mr James Curtis QC, prosecuting, said his hands were "perhaps a metre or a yard apart".
Mr Hussain added: "I had a quick glimpse at the driver, I thought I recognised him but I wasn't 100 per cent.
"I saw a few people come out the van but I didn't recognise them. They made a kind of battle cry noise.
"I think one had a metal bar.
"I ran for my life."
Mr Hussain told the jury how he ran down an alleyway then came across some footballers and rang 999 from one of their phones.
He said the same man then drove him home to warn his family, and then to his brother's house.
Mr Hussain then went back to the scene and followed a paramedic to the back of the takeaway where Yasir was on the floor.
"His hands were above his head and the paramedics were working on him," he said.
Feuding
The murder followed a year of "tit for tat" incidents between the two feuding Dudley families, many involving hit and run attacks, the court heard.
On November 26 Choudhary is alleged to have mown down Mohammed Waseem, a member of the opposing family, as he stood on the pavement in Shaw Road, Dudley, causing him potentially serious injuries.
The rivalry mainly involved Morrad Hussain, 35, and his brother-in-law Mohammed Waseem, 41, versus Nabeel Choudhary and his father Arshad Choudhary, known as the Castle Cars Group, as they worked out of the Dudley taxi firm, but also involved their extended families and friends.
Mr Peter Wilcock QC, defending Choudhary, said Mr Hussain had told an officer that "there was no lighting" and "it was dark" at the time of the incident.
"The incident you have described lasted literally seconds," Mr Wilcock added.
"Your car was hit, you got out, they got out.
"You barely had time to survey what was happening before running away."
Choudary, of Hope Street, West Bromwich, and Tasleem, of Broadway West in Walsall, both deny murder.
Choudhary also pleads not guilty to attempted grievous bodily harm and dangerous driving on November 26 and possession of an imitation firearm with intent, while Tasleem denies possession of a machete.
The trial continues.
