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Three men plotted a string of knifepoint robberies in and around a Bolton park using social media, a court has heard. Mbatjiua Murise, 22, George Yokani, 20 and Mohammed Bilal Kadva, 19, were all members of a Snapchat group that planned six robberies around Heywood Park in Great Lever in August 2022. Nearly three years on Bolton Crown Court heard their victims included a man on his way home from Mosque, a 70-year-old man who was hard of hearing and a woman crossing the park.
Prosecutor Thomas Worsfold said: “It is possible, the crown say, that other robberies occurred but were not reported to the police.” Mr Worsfold told the court how after the first victim was robbed on August 1 Kadva sent a message saying, “me and George and Bish went on day time licks and night time licks.” The case was heard at Bolton Crown Court (Image: Anthony Moss) Other messages in the group referred to further “licks” while another message said “have you got the shanks?” Another message said “we’ll grip some random youts near my ends innit.
” The next victim to be robbed was a hospital worker who was on his way back from Bolton Station after a nightshift when masked youths grabbed him from behind and held a knife to him. Mr Worsfold said the man described this as the “worst and most humiliating experience of his life.” The next two robberies were both carried out on August 10 starting with when a man was pushed off his e-scooter in a ginnel near Heywood Park.
That same day Marise had sent a message warning about police activity saying “mandem active out here broski.” But that same a day a 70-year-old man with hearing difficulties was robbed as he tried to cut through Lever Drive in Slaterfield. The robbers pulled out a kitchen knife and ordered him to hand over his mobile phone, wallet and tobacco holder.
Mr Worsfold told the court the man was left “frightened, paranoid in public and saddened for his community.” The fifth and sixth robberies both happened on August 14 after a man was approached from behind, again by masked youths. In the final robbery a woman was grabbed from behind and heard someone say “give me money or I’ll kill you.
” Her hand was cut and the woman needed to be treated in hospital. Mr Worsfold told the court Kadva, of Fletcher Street, Great Lever Yokani, of Winster Drive, Breightmet and Marise, of Rishton Lane, Great Lever. were all arrested in the weeks afterwards.
But Yokani had already been involved in a separate robbery on Bramhall Avenue in Harwood on October 26 2021. He had been part of a gang that approach a man from behind and threatened him with a knife before Yokani rifled through his pockets asking “what have you got?” He took the man’s car keys but had apparently not been able to find his car. The victim in the Harwood case had been left with lasting physical and psychological injuries.
Mr Worsfold told the court that the incident “has brought his whole world down.” Yokani was arrested in connection with the Harwood robbery in June 2022 and was released under investigation before going on to get involved in the Great Lever incidents. He eventually pleaded guilty to robbery, for the Harwood incident, and conspiracy to commit robbery, for the string of incidents around Heywood Park.
Murise and Kadva both eventually pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery. Adam White, defending Murise, said he deserved credit for his guilty plea and reminded the court of his “lack of maturity at the time”, given he was just 19 when the robberies happened. Mr White said that Murise, who has one previous conviction for two offences , was not physically present when the robberies were committed but said he accepted he encouraged them.
ALSO READ: Teen arrested after series of knifepoint robberies in park ALSO READ: Fears witnesses could be 'denied justice' as trials set to move from Bolton ALSO READ: Victims of crime 'denied justice' amid staggering court case backlogs Dan Gaskell, for Yokani, said that he also deserved credit for his guilty plea and reminded the court he was just 16 at the time. He said that Yokani, who has two previous convictions for two offences, was “immature and naïve, blasé as to the effect of his offending on others.” Paul Johnson, for Kadva who has no previous convictions, said that his “life was very different in 2022” but he had since expressed remorse and taken his life in a different direction.
He said: “He says he was a kid, with the wrong ideas, with the wrong crowd, everything was impulsive, he wasn’t thinking right in the long term.” The Honorary Recorder for Bolton Judge Martin Walsh ordered that the three men be brought back to court to be sentenced on Monday, April 28..
