Aya Hachem murder trial: Brother says he 'didn't know he was surrounded by killers'

Suhayl Suleman, 38, said that he had nothing to do with the plan hatched to kill Pachah Khan and had no knowledge of what was happening, however, prosecutor David McLachlan argued that he did.

Suleman, of Shear Brow in Blackburn, is currently standing trial alongside Louis Otway, of Clitheroe Road in Manchester, for their alleged involvement in the murder of Aya Hachem and the attempted murder of Pachah Khan.

Suleman, speaking from the witness box in Preston Crown Court on Wednesday (October 26), said that the only reason he met up with Uthman Satia and Abubakr Satia, convicted murderers, on the night of May 17, the day that Aya Hachem was shot, was so that he could buy more cocaine to fuel his addiction.

READ MORE: Aya Hachem murder trial recap: Suhayl Suleman gives evidence for second day

Suleman was asked by his defence counsel Imran Shafi KC about a text he sent in April 2020.

Mr Shafi asked: "I'm going to get J’s boys to deal with it. What does that mean?"

Suleman said: "Last time they sat down and had a meeting it was at Jaffa’s Cafe, we got the owners of Quick Shine and RI Tyres lot they went and sit down and have a meeting. J boys - Jaffa Boys."

Mr Shafi continued: "It has been suggested when you refer to J boy's it is a reference to Louis Otway who goes by J?

Suleman answered: "I never knew him, he was the man hiring the car off me but I never knew him."

Mr Shafi KC said: "When he said, not now, in a month or two what did he mean by that?"

Suleman replied: "He meant because of the lockdown, you couldn't go into a restaurant."

Mr McLachan, in cross-examination, asked him if he meant "Louis Otway’s boys" rather than the owners of the café.

Mr McLachlan said: "Who are J's boys?"

Suleman replied: "I don't know nothing about J. His wife had my wife's car while I was in Pakistan."

McLachlan said: "J’s boys, you wrote that?"

Suleman said: "That's about Jaffa boys."

McLachlan asked: "Who owns the takeaway?"

Police on the scene on King Street, Blackburn, after the shooting (Image: PA)

Suleman replied: "It is owned by Adam, and they were from the same country as the Quick Shine people."

McLachlan said: "You know who J is?"

Suleman said: "I did not at the time."

Suleman said that his cocaine addiction led him to sleep during the day and that he was sleeping when the fatal shot to Aya Hachem was made on May 17.

Mr Shafi KC said: "There is a text message you sent to your wife at 2.48pm, shortly before the shooting. You say wake me up at 3.15pm or 3.30pm, she said okay, anything unusual about that?"

Suleman replied: "I was just snoozing, I wake up at that sort of time, I thought I would snooze a bit longer and she could wake me up."

Mr McLachlan KC, in cross-examination, looked through phone logs immediately after the shooting at 3pm.

McLachlan KC said: “Shall we see who your friend calls immediately after this shooting, who his first call is to? Who does Ayaz Hussain at 3.27pm?"

Suleman: “Feroz Suleman."

Mr McLachlan asked: “Who does he try to call at 3.28pm?"

Suleman said: “Me."

McLachlan asked: “Who does he try to call at 3.36pm?"

Suleman replied: “Me."

McLachlan asked: “Who does he call at 3.39pm?"

Suleman said: “Mr Otway.”

READ MORE: Cocaine addict says killer brother kicked him out of business before murder plot

Suhayl said he was still asleep when Hussain was making these calls and when Uthman Satia called him just after 5pm, waking soon after that.

Mr Shafi KC said: "You send a message to your brother Nadeem at about 6.30pm saying 'send me the video of the shooting'."

Suleman said: "My phone was going off with so many texts, messages and calls. Loads of people were talking about a shooting outside the garage so my wife informed me he had a video.

“I tried logging into the cameras, but the police were either logged into it or had the hard drive. I asked him if I could see that video.

"Everyone was talking about it and I wanted to see what had happened outside the family business.”

The video sent to Suleman was a clip of police officers watching the CCTV.

After this, Suleman went to pick up Ayaz Hussain, telling the court it was so Hussain could drop some food off to his brother-in-law for Ramadan.

Suleman then took Ayaz to Suleman’s family home where he stayed for a few minutes before leaving. Suleman says that during this time, he and his wife were both in the kitchen while Ayaz Hussain and Feroz Suleman were in a separate room.

Suleman then left the house again to go to Uthman Satia’s house in Rishton, which Suleman claimed was to pick up cocaine, but he did not have enough so Suleman called Abubakr Satia.

Abubakr Satia said he had more and agreed to meet with them at the Burnley Road garage.

Aya Hachem who was fatally shot outside Quick Shine Tyres on May 17, 2020 (Image: Ismail Hachem)

Suleman said he realised his brother was also in the car with Satia and that he would not be able to buy the drugs in front of Feroz so offered Satia a ride in the car, and Feroz also came along.

They then went to the Suleman’s home where Feroz Suleman, Uthman Satia, Abubakr Satia and their brother Umar Satia were captured on CCTV outside the garage.

Mr Shafi KC asked: "Was there any discussion about the shooting?"

Suleman said: "Everyone was talking about it, it was all over social media, everyone was talking about it."

Mr Shafi KC said: "What about the people you were with, were they talking about it?"

Suleman replied: "A little bit, I asked Satia and they said they just knew what I knew from social media. At no point did I know that these individuals were involved."

Mr Shafi KC said: "From your perspective, socialising with this group of people with them being around your garage at night."

Suleman said: "That would have been normal."

The following day, Suleman went to the RI Tyres Burnley Road site and went into the office where he saw his brother and Bradley Peacock.

He then left to go to the Copy Nook site where armed police arrested him.

He was questioned by police and answered no comment to all questions.

READ MORE: Aya Hachem: Suhayl Suleman and Louis Otway on trial for murder

Mr Shafi KC asked: "Why did you go no comment in your interview?"

Suleman said: "I had no involvement, I didn't know what was going on. The advice from my solicitor was to go no comment all the way. I had nothing to do with anything.”

Suleman said it was shortly after that he found out that his brother Feroz Suleman and his friends had been involved in the shooting.

Mr McLachlan KC asked: “It came as a massive surprise to you, Mr Suleman?"

Suleman said: “It did, and to my family."

Mr McLachlan said: “Your brother who you live with. One of your best mates Ayaz Hussain. Your supposed cocaine dealer Abubakr Satia and his brother Uthman Satia and Kashif Manzoor who you did not really like charged with the murder of Aya Hachem.”

Suleman: “Yes.”

The trial continues.