Mum tells court she was ‘smoking crack as man stabbed to death’ | UK | News

A mother accused of murder has told the court she was smoking crack cocaine in a parked car outside while a man was fatally stabbed inside a nearby flat. Paul Foster, 47, died after sustaining a single stab wound to the back during a “taxing” on Muirhead Avenue in West Derby.

His attackers were reportedly “tooled up” with a knife and an imitation firearm during the robbery, making off with drugs and a quantity of cash from the property before fleeing the scene. Five defendants — Elsadig Abrahim, Zayd Alasaly, Dylan Blundell, Michael Fields and Sarah Kasseum — are currently standing trial at Liverpool Crown Court, each charged with his murder.

Kasseum began delivering her evidence to the jury on Thursday afternoon. During questioning by her barrister Peter Finnigan KC, she also described how Blundell had informed her in the wake of the stabbing that he had witnessed Fields “passing a knife” to Alasaly, who was reported to have “given a smack” to Mr Foster.

Dressed entirely in black in the witness box, Kasseum appeared visibly emotional as she was sworn in on the bible, before denying any intention for the victim to be killed or seriously injured. She further maintained that she had no knowledge that others present at the flat had been armed with a knife and an air pistol, and insisted she had been completely unaware of any planned robbery.

Kasseum proceeded to describe how she had been a crack cocaine user for “many years”, having also sold drugs to fund her habit. Addressing the hours preceding the stabbing, she recounted how she had been at the home of a man named Tony Conroy on St Mary’s Close in Wavertree and stated: “I was having a pipe in the living room. I think Ziggy [Abrahim] and Dylan were in the living room with me. Zayd, Mick and Tony were in the kitchen talking. We had our pipe and then we got off.”

When questioned about “how much crack she had consumed” that day, Kasseum responded “I couldn’t tell you, a lot”. Regarding the drug’s impact on her, she remarked: “It keeps me awake really. I’m having my pipe, chilling. I’d been up for two or three days. I was alright. I was aware what was going on around me.”

“They was all just trying to get heroin. It was too late. They weren’t on. They weren’t answering. Some people are on 24/7. Sometimes they run out of heroin or they have crack more.”

When Mr Finnigan enquired about the subject of conversation at this point, Kasseum answered: “Just the usual. Chatting s****. Mick waffling on. His usual s****. Crack talk basically, nothing out the ordinary.”

Having been without a home and lodging with various acquaintances at the time, Kasseum remembered: “I was meant to say at Tony Conroy’s, but I wasn’t staying there because Kieran Hannon was staying there. It’s not that I couldn’t. I could have, but I didn’t want to because of Kieran Hannon. He was just a pest, always trying to get on me.

“I was gonna go back to either Eugene [Brown]’s or [Paul] Tully’s, but Tully was in town, so I took the decision to go back to Eugene’s. I asked Mick could he drop me off. He said yeah. He said just shoot down here with me first. He said just shoot here with me, meaning Muirhead Avenue, then I’ll drop you back off. He said he’s going to Muirhead Avenue to see that kid, Pablo.

“I’d just heard through Mick about him, just that Mick was owed money off him. He’d give him bits previously, stuff to sell, and he owed him a bit of dough. That was just the conversation throughout the day in Eugene’s.”

After departing in Fields’ Kia Ceed vehicle as front passenger alongside Blundell, with Abrahim and Alasaly seated in the back, Kasseum stated: “The conversation in the car was whether he’s even going to get an answer off the kid, Pablo. He’d been blanking him for a few days. Mick had heard nothing off him. He said, would you get out for me? You’ve got more chance of getting in, he’s gonna blank me.

“I said yeah, alright. I didn’t know nothing. I just thought he was going to get his dough he was owed. He was just gonna get his money off that kid. Also, he was saying that he could have bobby [heroin] for them, Ziggy and Dylan.

“I got out. I’m just in front a little bit. They were behind me. I buzzed the buzzer. A girl come, knocked on the top window. She went away from the window, then the door buzzed to gain access.” Having unlocked the door to the flat, Kasseum stated she then “went off, went back to the car” and continued: “I was having my pipe in the car. Just listening to my music.”

Kasseum revealed that the males subsequently returned to the vehicle “quick, all like ‘just get in the car’, shut the doors” and said: “I said to Mick, what happened? Did you get your money? He said, did I f***. My man smacked him up. Give him a smack.”

Fields was said to have gestured towards Alasaly at this point before the car was driven “fast, heading back towards the way we come.”

Kasseum recounted: “We pulled up into Tony’s close. Dylan and Ziggy were in the car. Zayd and Mick got out the car and ran into Tony’s. I turned around to Dylan and said, what the f***’s gone on kid? Dylan turned round and said he seen Mick passing Zayd the knife.”

Kasseum disclosed she subsequently requested “someone to phone me a taxi” as she “wanted to get off”. Having departed with Abrahim and Blundell in the vehicle, she described the “atmosphere” at that moment: “They were quiet. It was horrible. My head was everywhere. I didn’t know what had gone on.”

The jury of six men and six women had previously heard during the prosecution’s opening last week that Mr Foster dealt drugs from the home of a now deceased woman named Lyndzi McCowan on Muirhead Avenue, where Fields was alleged to have driven his four co-defendants in his black Kia Ceed car shortly after 1.30am on October 15 2024. David McLachlan KC, prosecuting, stated: “They were not going to Muirhead Avenue for a little drive on a Tuesday morning in the early hours.

“The prosecution say that they were in the car for a purpose, and it was not a good purpose. The purpose was to rob Paul Foster of his money and his drugs in what is known commonly as taxing, and they went tooled up. By that, we mean that they were armed with a knife and an imitation firearm.”

Upon their arrival, Kasseum was allegedly “deployed to gain entry” to the property via the intercom, having purportedly been “in the know” and “close enough to Paul Foster to know where he was and close enough to know what he did.”

Mr McLachlan informed the court: “Lyndzi McCowan buzzed her in. It did not work and, in fact, nobody arrived at the flat, so Lyndzi McCowan walked down to speak to the girl, Sarah Kasseum, who had been buzzed in.

“As she made her way downstairs, she was confronted by three males running at her. They were dressed in black. She did not see the girl that she had seen from the window. Lyndzi McCowan ran back into the flat, no doubt as fast as she could, and tried to shut the door against the males that were trying to barge in. She was screaming. She realised that the males were there to rob Paul Foster.” These men were heard to say “where is he?”, “where’s the bits?” and “where’s the money?” and were said to be armed with “what appeared to be a gun”. Mr McLachlan added: “During that confrontation, Paul Foster was fatally stabbed in the back.

“What did they do? Well, they legged it. They fled the scene. They took cash, stolen from the flat. They were described as wearing all black clothing and balaclavas. A bloodstained piece of black metal, which was the plastic slide component of an air pistol, was recovered from inside 40A Muirhead Avenue. The knife was never recovered.

“It is the prosecution case that Paul Foster’s death was a direct consequence of a drug taxing where he was living and dealing drugs. It is the prosecution case that Michael Fields drove the offenders to the scene, that Sarah Kasseum was present at the scene and acted as a decoy by posing as someone who intended to purchase drugs from Paul Foster.

“But she was there for an entirely different purpose, that being to facilitate access to the flat for the purpose of the taxing that was to take place. Thereafter, the males went in, Michael Fields, Elsadig Abrahim, Zayd Alasaly and Dylan Blundell. They went in to do their business armed with weapons, a knife and an imitation firearm.

“The prosecution case is that all five defendants went to 40A Muirhead Avenue to rob Paul Foster of his drugs and money. They went mob handed. They were armed with a knife and an imitation firearm. The prosecution case is that they shared a common purpose, and that common purpose was, without a doubt, to rob Paul Foster and, if it came to it, and, sadly, it did, to commit murder.

“Was the stabbing of Paul Foster within the scope of a joint enterprise if the need arose? That will be a question that you will grapple with. The prosecution case is that it obviously was, and it will be necessary for you to consider, individually, what the intentions of each of the defendants was in this case.

“The prosecution case is that, while the defendants went to rob Paul Foster, they did so in the knowledge that, if it got on top, they could resort to using the weapons that they had, that were in their joint possession, to wound or to inflict grievous bodily harm with intent. The knife was not a toy, members of the jury.”

Abrahim, aged 61 and residing on Croxteth Road in Toxteth, 23 year old Alasaly, of Corinto Street in Toxteth, 26 year old Blundell, of Corsewall Street in Wavertree, 41 year old Kasseum, of Lower Breck Road in Anfield, and 50 year old Fields, of no fixed address, all deny murder and possession of a bladed article in a public place. Abrahim, Alasaly and Kasseum have additionally pleaded not guilty to robbery and carrying an imitation firearm with intent to commit an offence. Blundell and Fields, nevertheless, admit these two charges, with the latter having likewise admitted guilt to manslaughter. The proceedings, presided over by Judge Simon Medland KC, are ongoing.