11:31am Wednesday 10th March 2010
AN alleged drug dealer was fit and well just hours before his beaten body was found near Anglezarke reservoir, a man accused of conspiring to murder him told a jury.
Faisal Aslam, giving evidence at Manchester Crown Court said he last saw 22-year-old Umair Waseem at 8.30pm on Sunday, February 1, last year.
He said they had agreed to meet at lock-up garages in Dover Grove, Bolton, where Mr Waseem handed over a Vauxhall Vectra for him to sell.
Aslam told the court that earlier that day Mr Waseem, of Fern Street, Deane, who he claimed was a heroin dealer, had asked him to get rid of the car.
“He said it was going to get reported stolen the following morning.”
Aslam said he and a friend, Asim Khan, had met up with Mr Waseem at 6pm that evening and the three of them went for a ride in the Vectra, which Mr Waseem had previously hired, parking up in a lay-by north of Bolton, so the two others could smoke cannabis.
He told the court that when they returned to Bolton, Khan got out of the car and Waseem asked him to stay behind, telling him this was the car he wanted to get rid of.
Aslam said he collected the car from Mr Waseem, later that evening and did not see him alive again. He told the court he took the Vectra to the home of Aroon Asad’s girlfriend in Crumpsall, and he was going to sell the car on to a dealer for him.
The next day he went to stay with his uncle in Leeds, only returning a week later when he learned police wanted to question him about Mr Waseem’s death.
The Vectra was found in Crumpsall six days after the murder, and forensic tests revealed blood from Mr Waseem low down on the vehicle.
The prosecution stated this indicates the vehicle was in the car park at Anglezarke reservoir while Mr Waseem was being attacked.
Faisal Aslam, aged 24, of Clarendon Road, Whalley Range, Manchester; Asim Khan, aged 27, of Radcliffe Road, Bolton, and Aroon Asad, aged 21, of Vaughan Road, Chorlton, all deny conspiracy to murder.
The case continues.
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