GUILTY: Hamza Mohumed and Juma Munyankore, have been sentenced to a combined time of over 20 years in prison after attacking a man at a family barbeque last year
GUILTY: Hamza Mohumed and Juma Munyankore, have been sentenced to a combined time of over 20 years in prison after attacking a man at a family barbeque last year

Prison awaits for knife-attack pair

Two men who nearly killed a Facebook ‘friend’ during a frenzied knife attack at a family BBQ have both been handed long prison sentences.

Somalian national, Hamza Mohumed – known as KG – stabbed the man several times with a double-edged, half-moon shaped dagger after cornering him in a Coventry garden.

Juma Munyankore, aka ‘Scholar’, joined in the horror attack in a communal garden on the afternoon of 11th September last year, which was witnessed by a six-year-old child.

The 26-year-old victim – who’d known his attackers for seven years – was airlifted to hospital with critical stab injuries to his chest and legs; one of the wounds punctured a lung, his diaphragm and liver.

Mohumed was arrested by West Midlands Police officers two days later from his home in The Bentree, in the Stoke area of Coventry, where he was found in a bedroom hiding under a dressing gown.

Munyankore – from Middleborough Road, Radford – was handed over to Coventry Central police station by his mother on 16th September, just hours after officers had carried out a warrant at his home address.

Both Mohumed, 24, and 25-year-old Munyankore were charged with attempted murder but the court accepted their guilty pleas to the charge of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

And at Leamington Justice Centre on Friday 12th February, Mohumed was jailed for nine years four months after entering an early guilty plea. Rwandan national, Munyankore, was handed a 10 year nine month term after only admitting the offence on day four of his trial.

Investigating officer, Detective Constable Helen Keating, welcomed the lengthy sentences and described the attack as ‘outrageous’.

She said: “The victim came across his attackers while walking to a family friend’s house for a BBQ…he went to greet them and shake their hand but was met with punches and was head-butted.

“He ran into the garden but was followed by a group of men, including Mohumed and Munyankore, who had armed themselves with weapons and told the group to ‘stay out of it’ as they cornered their target. The attack left the man bleeding heavily and doctors said he was lucky to survive.

“It’s not clear what sparked the row…but it was a vicious, outrageous attack in the middle of the afternoon and carried out just yards away from a young child.

“I would like to thank all the witnesses who supported our investigation and particularly those whose evidence helped us secure convictions against these two dangerous men.”