A man was ‘violently’ robbed and beaten to death by a group at a Birmingham park where his body was discovered by a dog walker two days later, a court has heard. Michael Obasi, aged 38, was found at Perry Hall Playing Fields near the One Stop Shopping Centre entrance on March 16, last year.
It was initially suspected he had collapsed until a post-mortem revealed he had suffered at last six ‘forceful blows’ to his head, likely inflicted by punching, kicking and stamping, a jury was told. It is alleged that some members of the group who attacked him had also targeted another man at Walsall Train Station two months earlier.
Romanian nationals Manuel Filipache, aged 21, and Ion Calin, 19, both of different addresses on Normandy Road, Birmingham, as well as Ion Morar, 20, of Bragg Road, deny charges of murder, robbery and attempted robbery. Three youths aged between 14 and 16, who cannot be named due to legal reasons, also deny the murder and robbery offences but do not face the attempted robbery count.
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Opening the case at Birmingham Crown Court today, Thursday, January 16, prosecutor Peter Finnigan KC said: “On the evening of March 14th last year a 38-year-old man, quite well-built you may notice, he was violently beaten and he was robbed by a group of six young men, the defendants in this case, in a town park nearby to where he was living at time in Perry Barr.
“After robbing him they left him where he was and they then fled the scene. That man who was beaten and robbed and left in the park for dead was Michael Obasi. The case for the prosecution is that the group of six young men who confronted him comprised of these defendants and that they together are responsible for his murder.”
A police van at the scene of the tragedy in Perry Hall Park
(Image: BirminghamLive)
He added: “Mr Obasi’s body was discovered in a relatively quiet area by a dog walker two days later on March 16th. As bad as that undoubtedly was what happened to Mr Obasi in the park, it wasn’t an isolated incident.”
Mr Finnigan told the court the trial was also concerned with a separate incident at Walsall Train Station which took place in an ’empty corridor’ around 8pm on January 15 last year and was caught on CCTV. He alleged that Filipache, Calin and Morar were part of a group of five men who carried out the attack on another victim on his way to work.
Mr Finnigan said: “He was set upon by that group. He was knocked to the ground then there was a pile-on. He was stamped upon, he was kicked a number of times in the head and face. His pockets were rifled.
“This attack was sudden and it was violent. As it happened the would-be robbers didn’t manage to get away with anything. Possibly because a train came in around that time.”
Walsall Train Station
(Image: Google)
Moving on to the fatal attack the prosecutor told the court that Mr Obasi lived near Perry Hall Playing Fields and regularly walked through the beauty spot to visit his parents who lived on the other side. Mr Finnigan stated he entered the park just before 7.30pm on March 14 and ‘never left it alive’.
A post-mortem concluded Mr Obasi died ‘following the infliction of significant head and facial blunt force injuries’. Mr Finnigan said: “The distribution of the injuries on his head and face was in-keeping with at least six forceful blows which included punching, possibly kicking, possibly stamping.”
He had sustained ‘extensive deep bruising’ to his head and scalp as well as bleeding on the brain. There were further signs of blunt force injury to his chest and back.
Mr Finnigan told the jury that an injury to his shoulder indicated Mr Obasi had been hit with a weapon, adding that he may have also been struck in the genitals. He had 100 marks to his body in total.
The prosecutor stated there was CCTV from surrounding areas but not the park itself. He said the defendants were captured entering the park ‘at or before the critical time’ and then leaving in two separate groups, with four of them heading back towards One Stop Shopping Centre and the other two exiting in a different direction. Mr Finnigan confirmed the adult defendants were ‘part of the Romanian community in Aston’.
Proceeding.