A man who murdered his former friend has been found guilty after the victim’s body was found in Gerrards Cross.
Amraj Poonia, 27, of Farmfield Drive, Horley, was found guilty of murder at the Old Bailey on Thursday, July 27. He had previously pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice.
Three other men – Raneel Poonia, 26, of Whitehouse Way, Slough; Mohanad Riad, 23, of Chrislea Close, Hounslow; and Mahamud Ismail, 26, of Albany Road, Brentford – were all found guilty of perverting the course of justice.
Raneel was found not guilty of murder or manslaughter.
Mohammed Shah Subhani was murdered at Amraj Poonia’s family plumbing business in Hounslow on May 7, 2019.
Throughout the trial, the court heard of the circumstances leading up to the murder, described as “the ultimate of betrayals” by Met Police Detective Chief Inspector Vicky Tunstall.
A short time before the murder, Mr Subhani had been asked to look after five kilos of cannabis by a local drug dealer. He gave one kilo of the drug to Amraj Poonia to look after, but Amraj stole them and staged a theft from a car to cover for it.
With the loss of drugs leaving Mr Subhani £5,000 in debt to the dealer, animosity increased between Mr Subhani and Amraj Poonia.
On May 7, 2019, Amraj Poonia contacted Mr Subhani, and they agreed to meet at Poonia’s family plumbing business. After entering the premises, Mr Subhani was murdered.
Shortly afterwards, Amraj Poonia’s brother Raneel was seen leaving the premises, getting into Mr Subhani’s car with an unidentified male, and driving off. The car was later found by police on June 19, 2019, with false number plates fitted. These had been sourced by Ismail and Riad.
On May 8, Raneel Poonia returned to the premises in a different car. Raneel and Amraj Poonia put Mr Subhani’s body in the boot.
Mr Subhani was declared as a missing person on the day he was killed.
In the early hours of May 11, Raneel Poonia, Ismail and another unidentified male drove to the Gerrards Cross woodland. There, they burned the body and buried it in a shallow grave.
Two days later, on May 13, members of Mr Subhani’s family went to the plumbing business. There, they encountered Amraj Poonia, and a fight followed.
Amraj Poonia was then arrested after being seen on CCTV footage carrying a large knife. A witness to the fight stated that Amraj Poonia had said: “I will kill you like I killed your brother.”
Samples of Mr Subhani’s blood were later found during a forensic sweep of the plumbing business. Despite this, there was not yet enough evidence for a criminal charge.
Mr Subhani’s body was not found until six months after the murder, when an unnamed person revealed to police the burial location. On December 19, 2019, police recovered the remains from rural woodland just outside Gerrards Cross.
The post-mortem was unable to determine the cause of death, due to the loss of some of the remains; significantly, the hyoid bone. The pathologist did, however, comment that the circumstances of the burial indicated an “unnatural death”.
The discovery of the body, the unidentified male’s testimony, and other evidence was finally enough to bring charges against Amraj Poonia and his associates.
In a tribute, Mr Subhani’s sister Iqra said: “He was kind, he was helpful, and he was courageous. He was an amazing son, an amazing brother, an amazing partner, and was an amazing uncle at the time. And I know had his daughter met him and known him, she would say I have the best dad ever.”
The four defendants are due to be sentenced at a later date.
Photo credit: Met Police
0 Comments