Despite the apparent increased frequency of its occurrence, the prospect of children appearing in court for killing other children always proves shocking and appalling.
The case of Prince Walker-Ayeni was no different. A life was cruelly cut short, before it could mature and flourish. Prince, 17, was due to turn 18 just days later.
His killers are still living and breathing. But their lives will no longer be the same. They are convicted murderers.
Alkhader Qasem, 16 at the time he stabbed Prince to death, and Ishaaq Mia, also 16, will be held in prison for years to come and will remain under supervision for the rest of their lives.
Until now, the pair have remained anonymous in press reporting of their cases due to their age. But after reporting restrictions were lifted following a successful legal submission by the Manchester Evening News, it is now possible for the first time to examine how two young boys became convicted murderers.
Alkhader Qasem lived in Rusholme with his family. In his younger years in primary school he was said to have been ‘way ahead’ of his peers.
He had been offered support to try and obtain a bursary to attend a grammar school, but he declined as he wanted to remain with friends.
Prince Walker-Ayeni
(Image: GMP)
But he began to experience difficulties as he moved into his teenage years. He was assessed to have ‘social, emotional and mental health needs’ and was placed on the special educational needs register at school.
Qasem was suspended from school in December 2021, and in April 2022. Following a third suspension, he was moved to a pupil referral unit, while still on the roll of a mainstream high school.
But his attendance began to ‘deteriorate’ and Qasem began smoking cannabis. He gained a new friendship group, who his parents believed were a ‘bad influence’.
It was in that context in which Qasem would stab Prince dead in the street on April 4, 2024. Qasem and Mia were out in Moss Side that afternoon to visit a friend on Raby Street.
Shortly after arriving, the pair had bumped into Prince, who was with a pal of his. There was a dispute, and Prince ‘forcefully’ punched Qasem two or three times.
Alkhader Qasem
(Image: GMP)
It was an ‘unprovoked’ attack, for which Qasem would seek deadly revenge. It was not apparently the first time that the pair had encountered each other.
Qasem claimed that when he was 13, he had seen Prince steal a bike from a friend of his. He alleged that Prince chased him and that he had a knife.
Qasem also claimed that when was 15, about a year before the killing, Prince had been part of a group of up to 20 people who had ‘surrounded’ him and Mia, while Qasem had his phone stolen and Mia had a bag stolen. Prince was not there to defend himself from such accusations.
The judge, Mrs Justice Ellenbogen, ruled that on April 4, Qasem had brought a knife out with him which he was ready to use. Qasem saw their meeting as an ‘opportunity to retaliate’, she said, with Prince unable to call on the back up of a larger group.
In hindsight, Qasem admitted he should have gone inside his friend’s house and sought refuge. Instead, he and Mia chased down Prince, before Qasem stabbed him three times.
A probation officer told of Qasem displaying a ‘lack of consequential thinking skills’ and an ‘extremely poor ability to problem solve’, due to his age. While being detained he has since expressed a ‘positive’ attitude, and is engaging in education to an ‘excellent standard’. The judge described him as an ‘intelligent boy’.
Quite how a young person with such a bright future can go from displaying academic promise to taking a knife out on the streets, and being prepared to use it, is alarming.
Tributes to Prince left at the scene in Moss Side
(Image: Manchester Evening News)
Despite not inflicting any violence on Prince, Ishaaq Mia was also convicted of his murder. He was found to have ‘lent support’ to Qasem through his actions.
He did not have a knife, but chased down Prince alongside Qasem. He is one of 12 siblings, and came from a ‘loving and stable home’, living with his family in Whalley Range.
But he also began to experience difficulties in his teenage years. He struggled to ‘adhere to the boundaries set’ by his parents and ‘at times’ responded with ‘verbal and physical aggression’.
He began mixing with other young people ‘engaged in criminal or anti-social behaviour’. He was the victim of a serious assault at school in May 2023. This led to a ‘decline’ in his behaviour, his mother said.
He was also the victim of ‘several offences’, including the alleged robbery said to involve Prince. A youth justice officer said that Mia would have suffered trauma which would have an ‘impact’ upon his ‘decision making skills’. Mia was excluded from school ‘several’ times and his mother eventually chose to home school him.
After he was remanded in custody after being charged with murder, he has been ‘involved in several fights’ and ‘found with improvised weapons’.
In May last year he was the victim of a ‘very serious group assault’, during which he suffered six stab wounds to the head. But his behaviour has ‘improved’ after he decided to ‘distance himself’ from a ‘particular individual’.
He has received ‘excellent comments’ from staff and has ‘begun to engage better’. The judge described him as ‘obviously intelligent’, and said he had come from a ‘loving and stable home’. It can now also be reported for the first time that Mia went on trial alongside his mother.
Saima Habib, 44, sat in the dock alongside her son as he went on trial for murder. She was found guilty of one count of perverting the course of justice.
Her son had contacted her after he had been charged and asked her to find a SIM card he had hidden in his bedroom.
Police responding to the stabbing in April last year
(Image: Manchester Evening News)
After reporting that she had found it, Mia told his mother: “Alright, you know what to do with that, don’t you?” The SIM card was never found.
The judge said of the SIM card, addressing Mia: “The clear inference is that it contained material related to the events of 4 April, likely to have implicated you and or one or more others in criminal offending.”
And she told Habib: “By its verdict, the jury has found that, at his request, you assisted Ishaaq, by disposing of or concealing a SIM card which might have been of relevance to the police investigation, thereby making that investigation more difficult, and so having a tendency to pervert the course of public justice, with the intention of perverting the course of public justice.”
The conviction represented a remarkable fall from of grace for a 44-year-old mother and qualified secondary school teacher. She recently gained a first class honours degree in midwifery, and had been due to start part-time work this month.
But her sentencing hearing heard that her conviction meant there was a ‘significant risk’ she would not be able to work as a teacher or midwife in future. A ‘devoted mother’ of 12, she is seen as a ‘role model’ in her community, after working with charities and leading scout groups.
She avoided jail after the judge ruled there would be a ‘significant harmful impact’ on her children and family if she were to be locked up.
Prince Walker-Ayeni’s tragic death is another example of how knife crime can ruin lives. And this investigation into his killers’ backgrounds provides another stark reminder of the challenges society faces in tackling it.
In December, Alkhader Qasem, now 17, of Bilsborrow Road, Rusholme, was found guilty of murder.
Ishaaq Mia, 16, of Brantingham Road, Whalley Range, was also found guilty of murder. A custody image of Mia has not been released.
They were both sentenced to detention at His Majesty’s Pleasure, with Qasem being ordered to serve a minimum of 15 years, and Mia a minimum of eight-and-a-half years.
Habib, 44, also of Brantingham Road, Whalley Range, was found guilty of one count of perverting the course of justice. She was sentenced to nine months in prison, suspended for two years. She was ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work.