Two brothers jailed for killing 16-year-old boy with car in Sheffield

Two brothers have been jailed for killing a 16-year-old boy who was “in the wrong place at the wrong time” when he was hit while walking by a car being deliberately driven at a group on bikes.

Zulkernain Ahmed, 21, was driving the Audi S3. Photograph: South Yorkshire police/PA

Abdullah Yaser Abdullah Taleb, who had come to the UK “in search of safety and a better life”, was hit by the vehicle, driven by 21-year-old Zulkernain Ahmed in Sheffield in June 2025.

Armaan Ahmed, 27, was a passenger in the car. Photograph: South Yorkshire police/PA

Zulkernain was jailed for life with a 30-year minimum sentence for murder at Sheffield crown court. His brother, Armaan Ahmed, 27, who was a passenger in the Audi S3, received a 17-year sentence for manslaughter.

The brothers were convicted by a jury after a trial in February. The judge, Mrs Justice Amanda Tipples, said the killing was “senseless and shocking”.

During the trial, the court heard that the pair had been purposefully targeting a group of three riders, two of whom were on e-bikes and one on a moped, when the car fatally hit Abdullah, who was captured on video footage throwing and catching a water bottle as he walked along the pavement to buy lunch.

The incident is said to have stemmed from the theft of e-bikes and threats allegedly made to Zulkernain by La’Rome Divers, a man who refused to cooperate with the police investigation, the court heard.

Zulkernain claimed Divers had threatened to kill him and his family after a dispute over an e-bike stolen from Zulkernain at knifepoint.

At the beginning of the sentencing on Thursday, Alistair MacDonald KC, prosecuting, read a statement from Abdullah’s father, Yaser Abdullah Taleb Al Yazidi. He explained how his son had been living in Sheffield for only two months, and had planned to begin college later that year.