Ishmael Farquharson, aged 34, denies murdering 16-year-old Sekou Doucoure, who was stabbed to death at an Esso petrol station in Newtown
13:47, 28 Aug 2025Updated 20:25, 28 Aug 2025
Sekou Doucoure, aged 16, was killed at the Esso petrol station on Nursery Road, Newtown
The conflict between opposing postcode gangs in north Birmingham has been explained to a jury amid the alleged murder of a 16-year-old boy.
Sekou Doucoure was fatally stabbed at an Esso petro station on Nursery Road, Newtown, on July 12, 2022.
It is believed he took on the ‘challenge’ of entering enemy gang territory and was shot at with an imitation firearm moments before he was killed.
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Ishmael Farquharson, 34, of Porchester Drive, stands trial at Birmingham Crown Court having denied murder, possessing an offensive weapon, a knife, and possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.
Today, Thursday, August 28, Pc Gareth Evans, who has worked on gangs for West Midlands Police since 2010, was called to give evidence.
The jury was shown a map which showed areas of north Birmingham divided up, with a large area to the west colour-coded red and a similar-sized area immediately to the east in blue.
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Pc Evans said the red western segment, covering postcode areas B21 Handsworth and B18 Hockley and Winson Green, represented territory associated with the Burger Bar Boys and Armed Response (AR) gangs.
Conversely, he told the court the blue eastern section, covering postcode areas B19 Newtown and B6 Aston, was associated with the opposing Johnson Crew and 9Boyz.
He explained to the jury that the Burger Bar Boys and Johnson Crew were rival gangs from the 1980s who had ‘significant problems between them’.
Sekou Doucoure(Image: WMP)
Pc Evans confirmed there had been violence between people associating with rival gangs in the north of the city for ‘decades’, which still persisted today.
Asked what happened if members of one gang entered a rival gang’s territory he said: “It’s rare to be seen in those areas if you are from an opposing area.
“If you are in those areas you are generally up to no good. You are likely to be chased, hurt, stabbed, shot at.”
Pc Evans told the court Burbury Park in the Newtown and Lozells area fell into 9Boyz territory.
His attention was drawn to an area of the map, marked in yellow, which overlapped the red and blue zones.
Pc Evans said that was the B20 Perry Barr, Handsworth Wood area.
He said that location was associated with a gang called Bandits, and a younger gang called GRD (Get Round Der), with Sekou a ‘prominent young member’ of the latter.
The jury was shown photos of the victim which Pc Evans showed him making a hand signal representing the number 20, to show affiliation to the B20 area.
In one image Sekou was standing next to an unidentified male who was making a gun symbol with one hand pointing at the other hand making a ‘6’, supposedly to demonstrate a threat to anyone associated with B6 Aston.
PC Evans confirmed the opposition to Sekou’s GRD gang was the 9Boyz of Newtown and Aston.
He was then asked about teenagers Pierre Thomas, then 17, and Fardi Jafal, then 16, who chased Sekou around the Newtown area before he stabbed to death.
The officer told the jury Thomas was known as P.Dot and was associated with the 9Boyz.
He explained he had showed his affiliation by the number 6219 in his email address, meaning ‘B6 to B19’. Pc Evans said information was more ‘limited’ on Jafal, who went by the street name Cadz, but concluded he was associated with the Aston area.
The jury has previously been told Farquharson’s ‘sympathies’ lay with Thomas and Jafal, and he was the ‘senior’ member of the group that chased Sekou.
The prosecution has said there was ‘no dispute’ Farquharson delivered the fatal stab wound to the 16-year-old but he has claimed he acted in self-defence. The trial continues.