Clubber who ploughed car onto packed dance floor jailed for 28 years

A man who ploughed a stolen 4×4 car onto a crowded dance floor in a ‘mass murder’ bid after being thrown out by doormen has been jailed for 28 years.

Vengeful Mohammed Abdul was convicted yesterday of two offences of attempted murder following the terrifying incident at Blake’s in Gravesend, Kent.

And today he was told by a judge that he was ‘enraged and humiliated’ and that his motive to kill innocent people that night was ‘selfish and pathetic’.

Abdul sent revellers sprawling, seriously injuring two, shortly after threatening door staff by saying "I’m going to come back and shut this place down and kill you guys" as he was being ejected from the club, for being drunk.

The 21-year-old, who claimed to have smoked five cannabis joints and drunk up to 15 vodka mixers, plus tequila shots, returned within 10 minutes in a Suzuki Vitara, telling doormen "I told you I’d be back".

He then manoeuvred the car, for which he only held a provisional licence, into a narrow alleyway at the side of the club before smashing through closed metal gates and accelerating into a marquee area at the rear of the club.

People enjoying a night out awaiting the guest appearance of grime rapper Giggs were sent sprawling ‘like dominoes’ on impact, Maidstone Crown Court was told.

He left at least 10 people injured either on being struck by the Vitara or in the resulting panic and crush.

Abdul will have to serve half his 28 year sentence. He was banned from driving for 16 years.

Jailing Abdul, High Court Judge Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb said he had been convicted on the clearest evidence.

She told him: "The CCTV shows how desperately your intended victims fled from the oncoming vehicle. It could have been a scene of carnage.

"Your inebriated state together with the bravery of door staff to pull people out of the way combined to prevent the multiple deaths which were your aim."

The court heard how a search of the 4×4 identified it to be stolen from the London area while inside an empty bottle vodka and small bags of cannabis were found.

The trial previously heard how cameraman Pierre Jermaine Joseph was at the venue to film rapper Giggs.

The 32-year-old was pinned by the Vitara against the marquee and suffered a fractured shinbone and knee.

Serious injuries were also caused to Katie Wells, then 18, who went under the vehicle and suffered a fractured pelvis and bruising to her left arm and legs.

She later recalled hearing ‘a massive bang’ before being hit by the front passenger side of the Vitara.

Tyre marks were left on her thighs.

Abdul, of Deptford, south east London, was arrested at the scene after being restrained by clubbers and door staff.

He denied two offences of attempting to murder persons in the vicinity of the nightclub but was convicted of both charges by the jury after just 90 minutes deliberation.

He had, however, pleaded guilty to two charges of causing serious injury by dangerous driving in relation to Mr Joseph and Miss Wells, now 19, ahead of his trial.

Abdul’s barrister, Danny Moore, argued that although his driving was ‘terrible and appalling’, he had not intended to kill or hurt anyone, let alone ’cause mass murder’ as alleged.

Opening the case for the prosecution on Monday, Simon Taylor told the jury of 10 men and two women there was ‘an obvious intention’ to kill.

"Why else deliberately drive at speed into a group of defenceless people offering no threat at all? The Crown’s case here is that in reality the defendant could have had no other intention whatsoever," he said.

"This course of conduct involved him using his car as a weapon by deliberately driving at a large group of people who were trying to enjoy a night out in Blake’s nightclub.

"The manner in which the defendant drove was not short in either duration or distance. It was a determined and indiscriminate effort to cause death to those people present.

"Mercifully, and no thanks to the defendant, death was not caused by his driving but serious injury was."

Shocking CCTV footage which captured Abdul’s action that night as more than 500 people partied ‘spoke volumes’, added the prosecutor.

Nine minutes long, it showed his ejection from the club, returning in the Vitara and then the dramatic moment the car ploughed past bollards, hitting doorman Greg Perzanowski who landed on the bonnet and rolled over the windscreen.

It then careered through the gates and past a busy smoking area. One doorman later described the car swerving ‘all over the place’ and deliberately trying to hit as many people as possible.

Clubbers screamed and staff shouted warnings.

Several had to dive for safety, the court heard, and one young woman who fell to the ground was dragged away by a bouncer within inches of the vehicle hurtling towards her.

The 4×4 reached the marquee entrance where the vehicle’s headlights could be seen as it stopped for nine seconds before accelerating into the unsuspecting revellers on the busy chequered dancefloor.

Witnesses later told police they thought the noise they heard was part of Giggs’s arrival.

"Tyre marks were left by the vehicle as it careered into the marquee," said Mr Taylor.

"It then reversed, the Crown say, to line up another strike at the occupants of the marquee but that was fortunately stopped by the intervention of clubbers and members of staff."

The court was told the incident was not terror-related but motivated by ‘revenge and anger’ after Abdul was thrown out at about 11.40pm on Saturday, March 17 last year for his ‘apparent intoxication’ from drink or drugs.

His eyes were glazed, he smelt of alcohol, and customers had also complained about his ‘demeanour and conduct’, said the prosecutor.

It was his first visit to Blake’s and he had gone specifically with a friend to see the rapper perform.

Mr Taylor said the ‘tight’ manoeuvre by the Vitara from the road into the alleyway was ‘careful and deliberate’, demonstrating a ‘considered piece of driving’.

On hearing the revving engine, doorman Peter Muro told the court he realised the danger and quickly reacted to pull open the driver’s door and grab Abdul by his clothing.

However, the car accelerated away from him and towards the tented area.

Abdul drove across the dance floor for up to 10 metres and at considerable speed, striking a number of people who had no time to react, said Mr Taylor.

One woman dislocated her knee as people scrambled out of the way and tried to flee, screaming and shouting in panic.

Others, including people in the alleyway, were left with bruising and cuts.

Miss Wells was in the marquee when she heard the car revving and described it ‘launching’ towards her.

She was hit with force to her left-hand side, her shoes came off and she found herself under the vehicle before being pulled out to safety.

Abdul then reversed the 4×4 several metres, pinning Mr Joseph by both legs to the side of the marquee, the court was told.

The vehicle lurched forward again before people surrounded it, smashed windows with cocktail tables and dragged him from the driver’s seat by his hair.

The court heard he was ‘abusive and uncooperative’ to both officers and paramedics treating him for his own injuries, some caused by those who had restrained him.

He later replied no comment when interviewed and initially refused to give a blood sample.

By the time one was taken 14 hours after the incident it was impossible to determine whether he had been intoxicated by alcohol or drugs.

But giving evidence on Tuesday, Abdul said he had only gone back to Blake’s that night to cause the doormen ‘a bit of grief’ because he felt ’embarrassed and humiliated’ by how they ejected him.

He added he then panicked in his intoxicated state when the bouncers became hostile, and was simply looking for a way out when he drove down the alleyway and into the tented area.

Abdul, who lives with his parents and has six siblings, has no previous convictions but two cautions for criminal damage and possessing cannabis.

He came to the UK from Nairobi shortly before his first birthday and left school with eight GCSEs to work various office and warehouse jobs.

He told the court he was a regular cannabis user but the night he drove into Blake’s was only the fifth time he had consumed alcohol.

His father, a London black cab driver, was in court to support his son.

Abdul was originally tried in September last year but the jury on that occasion was discharged after failing to reach verdicts.

Mrs Justice-Cheema told Abdul he had ‘pre-loaded’ himself with an excessive amount of alcohol and knew the club was very busy.

"Your actions on March 17 2018 have thrown away many of the best years of your life.

"Your intention was to kill at least one person but many lives were deliberately endangered because you targeted a crowded location.

"You caused some degree of injury to eight people, and you plainly intended more serious harm than actually resulted. Some of those you targeted were working to keep people safe.

"You used a car as a weapon, you did not engage in a short period of driving but a sustained period when you had many opportunities to stop."

Abdul will have to serve half his 28 year sentence. He was banned from driving for 16 years.

Mr Moore told the court Abdul’s action was ‘a one-off aberration with substantial and terrible consequences’.

"There is nothing in his background to suggest a propensity to violence. No one can describe this case other than something completely and utterly out of his character," he added.

"Quite why he behaved in that way on that night may be forever something of a mystery but obviously intoxication played its part, although I concede that will not affect the sentence imposed.

"As a sober young man he hasn’t demonstrated anything in his history like this."

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