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Kriss killer

ayhem, fooking bloody mayhem, perniciously instigated “once again” by Muslims (or Asians, as the British press likes to straddle it), and while it may have just been a pothole in the road of expanding documentation in the clash between the West and those more fiercely devoted followers of Mohammed, the debate over just what is to be done to stabilize these rising concerns is still rather muted, and nearly always neatly packaged in broad but rather simplistic terms. After all goes the party line, it was merely one white teenager who lost his life, however gruesome the attack. But let’s be fair. Actually, this time, this place, the callousness of the brutal murder of an innocent fifteen year old boy did arouse the community from their politically correct slumber. Here is a reprise of that disgusting story from overseas:

Recently, forensic scientist Ruth Ramage testified in Scotland court that Glasglow youngster Kriss Donald was probably still alive when he was burning and had made his way down the grass to where he finally lay. He may have tried to extinguish the flames by rolling in the mud on the Clyde walkway before his death. The 15-year-old’s body was found by the walkway, near London Road on 16 March 2004, a day after he disappeared.

At the High Court in Edinburgh Mohammed Faisal Mushtaq, 27, Zeeshan Shahid, 28, and his brother Imran Shahid 29, deny racially aggravated murder. Ms. Ramage had been called to the Clyde walkway and described her findings to the court.

“A smell of petrol was noted, particularly when the deceased was turned over onto his back,” she said, noting that there were a number of stab wounds on his back and blood stains and scorch marks to logs about 50 yards away. His body was also heavily stained with soil on top of the burn marks.

Originally republished here on October 23, 2006. Here is an update. News of the original crime was major news in the anti-jihad circles, but there were some surprises along the way to justice for this young Scottish native where three of his Muslim attackers were given life sentences. Read on:

Three Muslim gang members were jailed for life yesterday for the “savage and barbaric” racially motivated murder of a schoolboy in Glasgow who had been singled out because he was white. Kriss Donald, 15, from Pollokshields, was abducted, stabbed repeatedly and then doused in petrol and burned to death by five men of Pakistani descent in March 2004, apparently in revenge for an earlier incident at a city centre nightclub.

The judge, Lord Uist, told Imran Shahid, 29, his brother Zeeshan, 28, and Mohammed Mushtaq, 27, that their “pre-meditated, cold-blooded execution … truly was an abomination”.

As he sentenced the men to minimum sentences of 25, 22, and 23 years respectively, the schoolboy’s mother, Angela, shouted out: “You bastards!”

During the six-week trial the high court in Edinburgh heard graphic and often harrowing testimony from forensic experts that the victim was probably alive when he was set on fire, and had tried vainly to douse the flames by rolling on the ground.

His charred and semi-clothed body was found in the foetal position the following day, on a walkway on the bank of the Clyde. Prosecutors said the murder was “one of the worst and most appalling crimes of inhumanity against an effectively defenceless boy”.

The jury of nine women and six men heard that Mr Donald had been singled out by Imran Shahid, 29, known as “Baldy”, after Shahid had been hit with a bottle or glass at Victoria’s nightclub on Sauchiehall Street in central Glasgow the previous evening.

Shahid, a bodybuilder who at the time sported a distinctive part-shaven, bleached-blond haircut, had pledged to seek revenge for the assault, which he blamed on a rival gang. “Boys from McCulloch Street” had attacked him, the court heard, and he wanted to know which “white bastards” had injured his pride.

Shahid and his four friends set out in a stolen silver Mercedes, cruising the streets of Pollokshaws with a knife, hammer and screwdriver; they came across Kriss Donald, who was a friend of the white men being sought but who was unconnected with the nightclub incident.

The prosecution said the car contained Imran Shahid, his brother, Zeeshan Shahid, nicknamed “Crazy” who was driving, their cousin Daanish Zahid, Mohammed “Becks” Mustaq and Zahid Mohammed. Their victim was first thrown into the rear footwell of the car despite his vain attempts to grab hold of the car doorframe, and threatened with a knife, punched and kicked, as Imran Shahid shouted: “I’m Baldy, nobody fucks with me.”

A friend who narrowly escaped from the gang, Jamie Wallace, said the schoolboy cried out: “I’m only 15, what did I do?”

The prosecution said four of the men then drove their captive on a 200-mile journey via Motherwell and Dundee, phoning friends and underworld associates for advice about what to do next; their journey was traced for the court by tracking some 200 mobile telephone calls.

Eventually they drove back to Glasgow after a white associate suggested that the Clyde walkway was a quiet spot useful for “sorting” someone out. At the riverside, it was alleged, the 15-year-old was held down, stabbed 13 times and set alight.

The men’s mobiles had fallen silent just after 7pm, and started up again about 20 minutes later, when the Mercedes was driven to a back lane near Glasgow University and set on fire.

Kriss Donald's Murderers

Later that evening clothes from the attack were burned in another alley by Mushtaq and Zeehan Shahid. The wreckage of the Mercedes held vital forensic evidence, the court heard, including traces of Kriss Donald’s blood and one of his trainers, and Imran Shahid’s leather jacket, which had been preserved only because firecrews had arrived in time to prevent the car being destroyed by the fire.

Community leaders were extremely worried about the risks of an explosion of racial violence, with accusations that the British National party was stoking up tensions. Mrs. Donald intervened with an appeal for calm, stating: “It doesn’t matter to my family what colour these men are. Kriss is gone because of gangs, not just in Pollokshields but every area of our communities.”

The gang members escaped to Pakistan. It emerged in court that Mohammed Sarwar, the Pakistani-born MP who represents the Pollokshields area, had played a pivotal role in bringing the three men to justice, backed-up by the then foreign secretary Jack Straw.

Mr. Sarwar lobbied the Pakistani president, Pervez Musharaff, to introduce a one-off extradition treaty to secure the men’s return. One meeting took place at the funeral in Cairo of the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat. The three eventually agreed to return voluntarily in October last year.

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