Michael Goold of Garden Court Chambers was led by Garry Green of Doughty Street Chambers.
Counsel were instructed by Shila Keshvari of Edward Fail, Bradshaw & Waterson.
Michael Goold represented the youth at the Old Bailey in a trial for murder. The defendant was accused of murdering Hazrat Wali, an 18-year-old student, over an incident in Craneford Park outside Richmond College, where the defendant and Mr Wali attended. The defendant accepted stabbing Mr Wali in the chest but claimed he acted in self-defence.
The jury was told that the defendant had been sentenced on the morning of Mr Wali’s death at Wimbledon Youth Court for carrying a knife two months earlier and that he had pleaded guilty to offences of affray and ABH arising from his involvement in a fight in a McDonalds an hour after the fatal stabbing. The prosecution also relied on recordings of phone calls in the weeks after Mr Wali’s death in which the defendant was allegedly boasting about the killing.
The defendant was found not guilty of murder after a three-week trial.
