Face of teenage killer revealed after brutal Brighton murder

Armin Mehdikhani-Sarvejahani was sentenced to life in prison this afternoon after he “plunged” a large kitchen knife into Mustafa over a drug debt in Brighton on October 5 last year.

Mehdikhani-Sarvejahani, from Southwick, rammed the knife into his chest with a “force so severe” that it broke through his breast bone and severed one of his pulmonary arteries.

Mustafa, 17, “ran for his life” up Queen’s Road towards Brighton Station but collapsed and died despite desperate attempts to save his life.

Mustafa Momand was pronounced dead at the Royal Sussex County Hospital on the same day he was stabbed (Image: Sussex Police)

Mustafa, from Brighton, was taken to the Royal Sussex County Hospital where surgeons performed emergency surgery and pumped 16 litres of blood into him but he was pronounced dead at 6.40pm. He was stabbed just before 5pm.

Mehdikhani-Sarvejahani can now be named after Mr Justice Adam Constable KC lifted an order which banned his name from being reported at Lewes Crown Court this afternoon.

"I have no doubt you were tasked as an expendable foot soldier", he said.

“Because you made sure your phone was never found. We may never know how you were tasked to kill him.

"I have no doubt you left the house, having turned your phone off, with the knife, knowing Mustafa was in Brighton. These actions were definitely part of a planned attack. 

Armin Mehdikhani-Sarvejahani has been given a life sentence (Image: Sussex Police)

"You took the knife for the purpose to at least cause serious harm. You forced him to run for his life, no doubt terrified in his last minutes of consciousness on this earth.

"I have no doubt you were acting on the orders above you as part of a county lines operation." 

Mr Justice Constable said this was a small mitigation in his favour.

"I accept that the letter shows the smallest glimmer of the effect of your actions and the impact they have had on others", he said.

Tributes left at the scene for Mustafa Momand (Image: The Argus)

"This tragic case serves as a stark reminder of the very real dangers that await young people who get involved in dealing drugs, of the appalling way in which young lives spiral quickly into effective servitude for financial benefit of others and become treated as expendable and most clearly of the devastating consequences of ever more frequent knife crime." 

Mehdikhani-Sarvejahani, who grew up in Iran before moving to Brighton, was given a life sentence for the murder of Mustafa Momand which will be a minimum of 17 years. 

He was given a six-month detention and training order for threatening with a bladed article and there was no separate penalty for possessing a knife in public.

Where did Mehdikhani-Sarvejahani go after the stabbing?

Mehdikhani-Sarvejahani fled through central Brighton to Bevendean where police arrested him initially on suspicion of attempted murder. They further arrested him on suspicion of murder when they learnt that Mustafa was dead.

He discarded his balaclava and a glove he wore during the attack in a wheelie bin in Bevendean Crescent. His knife was never found.

Blood was found on his boxer shorts where he tucked the knife, on his clothing and the soles of his shoes from where Mustafa was “squirting” out blood as he desperately tried to escape.

Mehdikhani-Sarvejahani told the jury he left the house after an argument with his parents and got the first train he could which happened to be Brighton. He said he hid his face because of being self-conscious about his acne.

He claimed that Mustafa “skipped into the knife”.

Mustafa had moved to social care in Bevendean and eventually South Croydon in April last year where his family thought he might be away from trouble. The day he was murdered, Mustafa was appearing at Brighton Magistrates' Court for drug-related offences.

The court heard that he had a £20,000 drug debt to Zakaria Deghayes, also known as Gotti or Zico.

Nathan Rasiah KC, prosecuting, said the defendant “knew that Mustafa Momand was a target” because of this and stabbed him “on behalf of Gotti”.

Journalists put in an application for Mehdikhani-Sarvejahani’s identity to be revealed when he was sentenced today.

There is an automatic ban on identifying anyone under the age of 18 in youth courts.

But when serious cases are sent up to adult courts as Mehdikhani-Sarvejahani's was, judges usually apply an order which bans identifying children and young people under the age of 18.

This is why Mehdikhani-Sarvejahani could not be named until his sentencing today when the order was revoked.