The sister of Yousef Makki has welcomed a High Court decision to quash a coroner's inconclusive finding following the teenager's stabbing.
Today (Friday) a judicial review criticised Senior South Manchester Coroner Alison Mutch's verdict, where she said the precise circumstances of the death 'could not be ascertained' and dismissed demands to find he had been unlawfully killed, and ordered a fresh inquest. The talented Manchester Grammar School pupil, 17, from Burnage, was fatally stabbed by a pal who said he acted in self-defence almost four years ago.
After senior judges set aside the original conclusion and ordered a new inquest, Yousef's sister Jade Akoum slammed the original coroner who 'marched us to the top of the hill only to march us down again' as she appealed to the public to help pay for legal costs at the new inquest.
READ MORE: Shocking CCTV captures Yousef Makki's final moments before he's stabbed to death
Yousef's friend Joshua Molnar was cleared of murder and manslaughter later in 2019, saying he acted in self-defence, and in 2021 the coroner ruled she could not reach a verdict of unlawful killing as the precise circumstances of the death 'could not be ascertained', a narrative conclusion which infuriated the Makki family.
Yousef was fatally stabbed through the heart aged 17. From a humble background, the talented Manchester Grammar School (MGS) pupil from Burnage was stabbed by his rich friend, Joshua Molnar, also 17, on leafy Gorse Bank Road in affluent Hale Barns on March 2, 2019.
Yousef's mother Debbie, 55, died in May, 2020, during lockdown. She had never recovered from Yousef's death and died 'of a broken heart', according to her family.
Speaking outside Manchester's Civil Justice Centre today, Yousef's sister Jade Akoum said: "We are very grateful to the judges for today recognising that the coroner's conclusion was unlawful, and for the compassion and understanding that they showed us during the judicial review hearing.
"We were so pleased to have achieved an inquest, but the coroner marched us to the top of the hill only to march us down again.
"We now look forward to a new inquest before a different coroner which we hope and pray will establish clearly the facts about how Yousef died.
"The flawed inquest used up all of the funds we worked so hard to raise, so we must now ask the public again for the generous help in allowing us to be represented at the inquest, as the others involved inevitably will be.
"We cannot be put on an uneven footing again as we were at the criminal trial. We know that this is a lot to ask at a difficult time for everybody. But please know that we are forever grateful for those that have helped us this far and those that may do so in the future.
"We'd like to thank our supporters who have attended today and our legal team who have stood by us every step of the way and have helped us get to this point.
"But this is the beginning and not the end, and we will not stop until we have justice for Yousef, for us, for my mum but first and foremost for him, our own beloved king."
Speaking to the M.E.N. Jade added: "We can finally smile this time.
"It's a mixture of emotions, but it's amazing to finally get some good news. We're used to getting bad news.
"If it was bad news today it would have been the end of the road but we're so happy to have been given another opportunity.
"Hopefully this will be in front of the chief coroner, we never thought the original inquest asked enough questions.
"I feel my faith in the system has been restored after these 11 weeks. I've not been able to properly grieve yet but having hope now will help us massively. If we had lost it would have been horrible for my mental health, I've got the rest of my life to grieve."
Family barrister Matthew Stanbury said: "It's taken nearly four years for Jade to get her first victory. For it to take four years to chalk up a win is a bad reflection on what happened before but we can look forward now. It's a step in the right direction and now we're back where we started, but we'd rather be here.
"This was the last throw of the dice, Jade refused to give up we had to give it everything. I am delighted for Jade and for Yousef and doing it for Debbie and we remain optimistic.
"We want the inquest to look at things properly and the witnesses need to be asked difficult questions, which didn't happen last time. Key witnesses weren't allowed to be sufficiently challenged last time.
"We want the inquest to be a proper exploration of the evidence and that people can be challenged to give Jade all the answers she needs.
"I hope it will happen this year but we don't want it to be rushed. We don't want another situation where it is not as thorough as we would want."
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