Forest Fields murder: Witness describes battle to save victim’s life

Video: Jaz Kaur lives close to the scene and called the emergency services 

Witnesses have described how people fought in vain to save a man’s life after he was stabbed in Forest Fields.

The attack unfolded on Russell Road at around 8.35pm on Wednesday and the man was taken to the Queen’s Medical Centre, where he later died of his injuries.

He has been named locally as Aqib Mazhar, with dozens of tributes to him being left on social media.

Student Jaz Kaur saw the incident from her window and called the emergency services.

She said: “We phoned an ambulance and it was over in a couple of minutes but he was left there by himself.

“It took a while to get down there and there were a few people helping the boy on the floor already.”

Jaz’s flatmate was one of the people who helped Mr Mazhar, putting him in the recovery position.

She added: “I’m just shocked really, to have it happen on the door step of our house in broad day light.

“The street is quite busy normally, as in people always walking up and down, but we’ve never had any trouble, although there have been times when we feel a little bit unsafe – but obviously not to this extent.”

In pictures: Police officers have been combing Russell Road for most of the day

Toby Haley, who lives close by, said: “I was at work last night, I got home and there were police everywhere.

“I had to give the police my full name and date of birth to get to my house (which is inside the police cordon) and follow a specific path with a police officer to get in.

“It’s a bit strange as you don’t really expect anything like that to happen. You always hear stories about it happening on the ‘other street’ but it just happened we were on ‘the other street’ this time.”

The area is still cordoned off by police while investigators search for evidence, with residents inside the cordon having to sign in and out as they go.

Toby added: “All of my flatmates were just as shocked as me but I think we were in just about the safest house in Nottingham with all the police officers around the house.

“We couldn’t get to sleep, we were just sort of pacing around the house just trying to find out what had happened, because at that point we did not have any news about what had happened, we just knew something big had happened.”

The family of the victim were earlier receiving condolences at Jamia Masjid Sultania mosque in Sneinton Dale.

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Picture: Jamia Masjid Sultania mosque

Pam Burrows, who lives on Russell Road, just outside the police cordon, said: “People have lived here for decades, generations even, the neighbours are all very friendly we all help each other out.

“It’s very mixed in terms of race, religion, ethnicity, people from all backgrounds, and everyone gets on really well.

“There were so many police cars that the blue lights were lighting up the house so we haven’t had much sleep. I’m just distressed really, it’s awful to lose another young life its obviously a dreadful thing.”

No arrests have yet been made and police are asking anyone with information to contact them on 101.