A DRUG dealer on trial for the alleged murder of a 24-year-old in Slough told the court he was only dealing because he had cancer and a child on the way.

Riaz Miah, 21, of no fixed above, along with Hassan Al-Kubanji, 21, of Peabody Avenue, London, are currently on trial charged with the death of Mohammed Rafaqit Kayani.

The 24-year-old died from a fatal stab wound to the chest during an incident in Keel Drive on August 30, 2022.

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It is the Crown’s case that Miah and Al-Kubanji were drug dealers from London and had ‘chased’ Mr Kayani from a playground in Concorde Way to the Slough Hindu Temple after an ‘altercation’ before he was ‘stabbed in the chest’ and died.

Taking to the witness stand yesterday (February 27), Miah admitted he was in Slough dealing for the ‘Avon line’ as he wanted to earn a ‘bit of money’ after finding out his partner was pregnant following being diagnosed with throat cancer.

He said the diagnoses, which impacted his mental health, alongside struggling to find a job and his partner being pregnant led him to getting involved in drug dealing.

“I believe I started at the beginning of August,” he told the jury. “The reason for getting involved in this was at the time the person I was with, my partner, told me she was with child and I was a bit shellshocked as I didn’t have a lot of money for [the baby] and I had a lot of pressure on me to get money quickly.

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“At the time I couldn’t get a job, I tried but it was very hard for me.”

Addressing his cancer diagnosis, he told the court he has regular treatment in his throat to help him eat and drink.

He said: “It impacted my mental health and my life in general. At that time when you’re young you expect to live life, you don’t expect to have that when you’re young so when I found out it affected me a lot.”

The defendant said he was then in contact with a drug dealer in London who sent him to Slough with a ‘couple hundred wraps’ to sell.

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Miah told the court that the drug dealer from London had described Slough as being ‘rough’ with lots of ‘robbers’ so he had bought a £15 machete from him.

He said: “I thought it would stop [people] in their tracks and think twice about it. It never crossed my mind [about actually using it].”

The trial continues.