Islington Tribune - by PETER GRUNER Published: 24 August 2007
Accused faces trial
AN accused failed to have a charge of murdering a minicab driver dismissed this week.
A defence submission of “no case to answer” against Desmond Wilson, 22, was rejected by an Old Bailey judge.
Wilson, of McIndoe Court, Sherborne Street, Islington, is charged with stabbing father-of-five Mohamed Ali Maslah, a 41-year-old refugee from Somalia, on May 5.
Mr Maslah, who worked for Archway Cars, lived in Gospel Oak with his family.
Defence counsel Ashitey Ollennu submitted that Wilson used “reasonable force” in self-defence when Mr Maslah attacked him with a bar in a row over money.
But Recorder of London Peter Beaumont said there was “sufficient evidence” to put before a trial jury on October 29.