LONDON: A British-Lebanese schoolboy stabbed to death by his friend during a fight was a “peacemaker,” an inquest into his death has heard.
Yousef Makki, 17, was stabbed by Joshua Molnar — who was also 17 at the time — in March 2019 during a fight in the English county of Cheshire, where the two attended a private school.
Molnar was acquitted by a court of murder and manslaughter that year following a month-long trial. He claimed self-defense, alleging that Makki had pulled a knife on him.
Molnar admitted possession of a knife and perverting the course of justice, after initially lying to police about what had happened. He was given 16 months in jail.
Makki’s family have said some matters presented to the jury were done so on a “false premise,” and the full truth had not been aired.
The inquest into his death was opened following the trial after it emerged that Molnar was facing further criminal charges for handling a phone stolen in a violent robbery — which Molnar was not directly involved in — weeks before Makki was killed.
Jade Akoum, Makki’s sister, was asked by the family’s lawyer whether her brother was ever interested in knives, had a “hot temper” or got into fights.
She told the inquest: “He was a peacemaker. He was everything you would want in a brother or son. Every day we miss him. It is a huge void we will never get back.”
The inquest continues on Tuesday.
