Sex worker lured murder victim to park, court told

Sacad Ali was found with fatal stab wounds at The Ponderosa in Sheffield

A murder victim “begged for his life” as he was stabbed to death by two teenage boys over a drug dealing row, a court has heard.

Sacad Ali, 24, died after being stabbed multiple times in the early hours of 9 March at The Ponderosa, Sheffield.

Prosecutors allege Mr Ali was lured to the park by sex worker Rebecca Moore, 25, before he was attacked.

Ms Moore of Springvale Walk, who is on trial at Sheffield Crown Court denies murdering Mr Ali.

Prosecutor Simon Kealey KC told the jury Mr Ali had been attacked by the teenagers "to stop him from selling drugs on their area".

The two boys, who cannot be named due to their age, pleaded guilty to murder and possessing an offensive weapon earlier this year, the court heard.

Emergency services tried to save Mr Ali's life but he was pronounced dead shortly after being found injured

Outlining the case against Ms Moore, Mr Kealey said: "As well as being involved in drugs herself, Rebecca Moore admits that she was a sex worker and it was [her] who lured Mr Ali out of a flat he was in on the promise of sexual favours."

He told the court Ms Moore denied murdering Mr Ali, but said she knew the boys and had previously called Mr Ali and arranged to meet him.

The boys, who were 16 and 17 at the time, had been involved in running a drug supply line, the barrister said.

Mr Ali was also thought to have been involved in drugs supply, Mr Kealey said.

A number of messages were found on his phone which "suggested the user of the handset was a drug user, but was also involved in the supply of drugs, cannabis, heroin, cocaine”, he added.

CCTV footage taken near the scene showed three people, who the prosecution allege were the two teenagers and Ms Moore, walking towards the park minutes before the attack at about 04:25 GMT.

Mohammed Salmani, who had spent the evening with Mr Ali watching boxing, said he saw the boys holding knives towards his friend.

He said Mr Ali had shouted “please leave me alone” before he was stabbed.

Mr Ali had been watching boxing with a friend in the brown and white flat blocks near to where he was found dead

The court was told a drug user, called Kelly Baker-Finnegan, later told police Ms Moore had gone to her flat asking for money.

The prosecution said Ms Moore had told Ms Baker-Finnegan she had “had someone killed” and wanted to go into her flat to stay warm.

“She said she was three quarters of the way down a bottle of vodka, got the boys obliterated, and said 'there’d been a sword fight' and laughed", Mr Kealey said, recounting what Ms Baker-Finnegan said.

Ms Moore said it had been "a setup" and done to "protect the drug line", the court heard.

The trial continues.

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