A second inquest has been ordered into the death of 17-year-old Youssef Mackie, who died after being stabbed in the heart in a Cheshire village in 2019.
High Court judges overturned the inquest’s initial findings, in which the coroner ruled out both unlawful killing and accidental death as causes of Youssef’s death on March 2, 2019.
The teenager’s friend Joshua Molnar, 17 at the time, was acquitted of murder and manslaughter that year, saying he acted in self-defence.
And in 2021, a coroner ruled that she could not reach a verdict of unlawful killing because the exact circumstances of the death “could not be established.”
But today the Mackies were told that judges had overturned the conviction and their campaign for a new inquest had been successful.
Lady Justice Macker and Mr Justice Fordham delivered their judgment at the High Court in Manchester and ordered a new inquiry before a different investigator.
During Molnar’s trial at Manchester Crown Court in 2019, the teenager claimed self-defence.
He was jailed for 16 months for possessing a knife in a public place and perverting the course of justice by lying to police at a crime scene.
Youssef’s family filed a judicial review in 2022 after the first inquest in 2021, challenging the coroner’s finding that there was insufficient evidence on the “central question” of whether the killing was unlawful.
Image: Youssef was described by his family as a “bright” student
Lawyers for the Makki family at the inquest into Youssef’s death argued that because the standard of proof in a criminal trial was “beyond a reasonable doubt”, while the standard at inquests was lower as it was “on the balance of probabilities”. , the coroner could conclude that Youssef was unlawfully killed.
Read more: Youssef Maki’s mother dies ‘heartbroken’ Man stabbed to death while trying to break up fight over e-scooter
However, at the week-long inquest in November 2021, Alison Mutch, senior coroner for Greater Manchester South, concluded she could not be sure of the “exact sequence of events” and ruled out both unlawful killing and accidental death.
His family described Youssef as “bright” and a “dedicated student” and won a scholarship to study at Manchester Grammar School.
Add Comment