Murder of Kriss Donald

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Kriss Donald (4 July 1988 – 16 March 2004) was a Scottish fifteen-year-old who was kidnapped, beaten and murdered in Glasgow in 2004. Five British Asian men were later found guilty of racially-motivated violence; those convicted of murder were all sentenced to life imprisonment.

1 Kidnapping and murder
2 Arrests and trial
3 Controversies surrounding the case
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Kidnapping and murder

On 16 March 2004, Donald was abducted from Kenmure Street, beside the Pollokshields Bowling Club at the foot of McCulloch Street where he lived with his mother, younger brother, and three sisters. The gang who kidnapped him took him on a 200-mile journey to Dundee and back while they made phone calls looking for a house to take him to. Having no success at this, they returned to Glasgow and took him to the Clyde Walkway, near Celtic Football Club's training ground.

There, they held his arms and stabbed him 13 times. He sustained internal injuries to three arteries, one of his lungs, his liver and a kidney, and was doused in petrol, set on fire and left to die.^[1]

The five men convicted of the abduction and murder, all of whom were British of Pakistani origin, were convicted of racially aggravated offences. After the murder, some of Donald's attackers fled the United Kingdom and sought refuge in Pakistan. Three suspects were arrested in Pakistan in July 2005 and extradited to the UK in October 2005, following the intervention of Mohammed Sarwar, the MP for Glasgow Central.

The Pakistani police had to engage in a ‘long struggle’ to capture two of the escapees. There is no extradition treaty between Pakistan and Britain, so it was unusual for the extradition to be agreed; it was reportedly the result of Sarwar’s intervention. ^[2] There were numerous diplomatic complications around the case, including apparent divergences between government activities and those of ambassadorial officials; government figures were at times alleged to be reluctant to pursue the case for diplomatic reasons. ^[3]

The issue of the killing quickly became politicised because of the racial element. After the murder there were reportedly ‘racial tensions’ in the area sufficient to lead to police intervention. ^[4]

[edit] Arrests and trial

Initially, two men were arrested in connection with the crime. One man, Daanish Zahid, was found guilty of Kriss Donald's murder on 18 November 2004 and is the first person to be convicted of racially motivated murder in Scotland. Another man, Zahid Mohammed, admitted involvement in the abduction of Donald and lying to police during their investigation and was jailed for five years. He was released after serving half of his sentence and returned to court to give evidence against three subsequent defendants.

These other men, Imran Shahid, Zeeshan Shahid, and Mohammed Faisal Mustaq, all in their late twenties, were charged with murder in October 2005 after being extradited from Pakistan. Their trial opened on 2 October 2006 in Scotland.^[5]

On 8 November 2006, the three men were found guilty of the racially motivated murder of Kriss Donald. All three had denied the charge; however, a jury at the High Court in Edinburgh convicted them of abduction and murder. ^[6] Each of the killers received sentences of life imprisonment, with the Shahid brothers being recommended for 25-year minimum terms and Mushtaq receiving a recommended minimum of 22 years.

[edit] Controversies surrounding the case

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There have been accusations that the media and the British Government did not see the Kriss Donald case to be as important as the murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence by whites in 1993 because the victim was white and his killers are not. The British state broadcaster, the BBC, has been criticized by some BBC viewers because the case featured on national news only three times and was later largely confined to regional Scottish bulletins. Although admitting that the BBC had "got it wrong", the organisation's Head of Newsgathering, Fran Unsworth, rejected the suggestion that Donald's race played a part in the lack of reportage, instead claiming it was a product of "Scottish blindness". ^[7]

The British National Party were accused by Scotland's First Minister and Labour Party MSP Jack McConnell among others of seeking to exploit the case for political advantage, and an open letter signed by some prominent individuals, including MSPs, trades unionists, and community leaders condemned the BNP's plans to stage a visit to Pollokshields. The group did hold a rally in the area, leading to accusations that it was fuelling racial tension and exploiting a tragic death for political capital. ^[8]

An article in The Scotsman newspaper alleged a lack of response by authorities to concerns of rising racial tensions and that Strathclyde Police had felt pressured to abandon Operation Gadher, an investigation into Asian gangs in the area, for fear of offending ethnic minorities.^[9] On 8 November 2006 Bashir Maan, a prominent Pakistani Glaswegian, also claimed on BBC television that police were well aware of the activities of Pakistani gangs in Glasgow but were reluctant to take action for fear of being accused of racism. In a January 2005 interview with a Scottish Muslim newspaper, he had previously claimed that “fear and intimidation” had allowed problems with Asian gangs in some parts of the city to go unchecked. The article also quoted a former senior Strathclyde police officer who criticised “a culture of political correctness” which had allowed gang crime to “grow unfettered”.^[10]

A BBC report suggests that another reason for inaction was lack of evidence, as locals were more prepared to make complaints than to give evidence in court. ^[11]

Mohammed Sarwar decided to step down as MP at the next election after receiving death threats over his role in bringing three of the suspects to justice.^[12]

The Leftist Website "Spiked" continues to doubt that the murder was racially motivated or that significant ethnic tensions exist in Pollokshields.^[13],although the killers were shown in Court to have made racist statements prior to the murder.