A MAN accused of murdering a father and attempting to kill his son has said he was acting out of fear for the welfare of his pregnant wife and children the night he used a machete, a jury has heard.

Sadaqat Ali, one of four men and a teenager accused of murdering Blackburn father-of-four Sajed Choudry, claims he took the machete from Mr Choudry’s grip before a fatal blow was struck to the side of his head.

Speaking through an interpreter at Preston Crown Court, Ali said everything had happened ‘so quickly’ adding he didn’t even realise he had the machete in his hand.

The 36-year-old, who had been at the centre of an on-going family feud with the Choudry family in November 2018, said all of his actions that night were in self-defence, but denies striking Mr Choudry to the head with the weapon, an action which would later see him die in hospital.

Ali, who prosecutors say was instrumental in the killing of Mr Choudry, said he was frightened for his life when the six-month long feud came to a head on November 27.

After hearing a noise coming from the street outside of his house, Ali said he went outside to find out what was going on. There he was confronted by a group of men in a BMW, including Mr Choudry’s son, Ahsan.

He said: “I walked to the passenger side of the car. That is when I realised there was more than one person inside. I moved away and said to them, ‘whatever you want to talk about, I won’t do it inside of the car'.

“I then noticed that Ashan Choudry was in the car.”

Ali said he then tried to make his way back into his home but stopped when he saw Sajed Choudry, 42, in the street.

He said: “I became even more scared about what would happen. He was swearing. I turned around and walked to the house of my uncle, Fazal Ilahi.”

Once inside his neighbouring uncle’s home Ali told Ilahi, that he was scared. He said: “It is getting late, I need to go home and see my family.”

The pair left the property and walked to Sadaqat’s brother, Rafaqat’s home. Sadaqat claims that the three then walked through the property and back out onto the back road in an attempt to walk Sadaqat home to safety.

When asked by his defence barrister Guy Gozem QC if any of them were armed at the time, Ali said: “Yes. They had sticks in their hands.”

But on their walk back to his home, Ali said he was once again faced by Sajed Choudry while walking up some steps close to his property.

He said: “We stopped on the steps because Sajed Choudry was there. He was shouting and swearing. He had a baseball bat. I was becoming more nervous and frightened.”

Ali then said that as he and his family proceeded up the steps, more armed men appeared, wanting to fight with them.

As the men approached, Ali claims one of the men, wearing a balaclava, passed an item to Sajed Choudry, which Ali grabbed from his hands.

He claims he didn’t realise that the item was a machete, and says he didn’t use it to strike Choudry. He does not deny using it to later attack Ashan Choudry, who suffered life-changing injuries to his hand, but denies the count of attempted murder against him for that offence.

He said: “I didn’t know I had such a dangerous thing in my hand.”

Sadaqat Ali, Rafaqat Ali, Ilahi, a fourth man Syed Ali Akbar and the youth, who cannot be named for legal reasons, all deny murder and attempted murder.

Two women involved were today found not guilty of perverting the cause of justice.

The trial continues.