A MAN accused of using a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence in a so-called joint enterprise has been found not guilty by a jury.
Judge Andrew Woolman directed the jury at Burnley Crown Court to find Wasim Ali not guilty before the defence case started after ruling that there was not enough evidence to convict him.
The court heard how a shot had been fired through the front window of a house in Richmond Hill Street, Accrington, on June 28 during a feud between Ali’s family and the family of the victim Zafoor Alam.
The man who fired that shot, Rashid Khan, 36, of Hamer Avenue, Rawtenstall, has pleaded guilty to using a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence and is due to be sentenced at Burnley Crown Court on Monday.
But it was the prosecution’s case that Khan was being directed by Ali, 28, of Richmond Hill Street, Accrington.
Ali had always maintained he had nothing to do with the shooting and that he was at the cinema in the Trafford Centre at the time. That was supported by mobile phone and automatic number plate reader evidence, and a ticket stub from the cinema.
Describing the prosecution evidence against Ali as ‘circumstantial’ Judge Woolman said: “It is in these cases a bit like a jigsaw. You have the picture on the front of the box but you simply don’t have enough pieces of the jigsaw to put it together.”
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