16-year-old was Murdered Going to School
The family of a murdered schoolboy have unveiled a bench in his name. Azim Azam’s family spoke for the first time since the incident which cruelly took the life of the 16-year-old.
The tragic student’s older brother Fiasal, 26, spoke movingly about his younger sibling on the second anniversary of the tragedy, as a memorial bench was unveiled at the spot where he was killed.
He said: “It’s been devastating for the whole family. We still can’t come to terms with what happened that morning, we are still in shock.
“Azim was young, bubbly, caring and full of happiness. He had so much potential that he will never be able to fulfil.”
Fiasal has replayed the whole murder over and over again in his own mind after it was captured on the bus CCTV system, harrowing footage he has since watched. He said: “My brother was purely innocent in the whole confrontation.
“It was 8am and the bus was full, but nobody intervened despite all of the verbal abuse that was aimed at him from the back of the bus.
“He was stood at the front and the attacker was shouting at him from the back.
“The bus got to about to the third stop and Azim used his own initiative to try and get off the bus. But the attacker barged through people to get to him and stabbed him through the heart as he had one foot on the bus and one foot off it.
“They both ran in opposite directions and the camera captures the moment my brother collapses in the street. It was a cowardly attack and those images will stay with me for the rest of my life.
“Nobody should leave this world like that and nobody should take a life like that.”
Azim was en route to his first full day at Bournville College on September 16 last year when he bumped into 17-year-old Azeem Akhtar on the No 2 bus in Moseley.
The 16-year-old, from Yardley, died from a single stab wound to the chest after being stabbed by Akhtar. It’s understood the pair had fallen out months earlier with Azeem Akhtar telling friends he lunged at Azim with the kitchen knife in revenge for being “snaked” – a slang term for insulted.
