On 25th June 2026, Oumar Traore was convicted by a jury of the murder of Yassin Alama and having the zombie knife used to kill him on Hutton Road, in Birmingham. The murder, described by the sentencing Judge as “a shocking episode of violence on a residential street”, occurred on 16th November 2025 when Traore was still only 17 years old. He is now 18 years old. A further defendant, Oliwier Gabis, was convicted by his own plea of attempting to pervert the course of justice; a crime committed when he supported Traore in evading capture for nearly a week after the fatal stabbing.
Both Traore and Gabis were members of the “B20 gang” in Handsworth, which was in conflict with the “B6 gang” in Aston. The murder followed a series of escalating incidents of violence between the two rival factions.
Within four minutes of the fatal stabbing, Traore had posted a video of his blood stained zombie knife on SnapChat, telling his group that it was still “warm”. Despite the gang’s best efforts, West Midlands Police officers were able to locate Traore and arrest him on 23rd November 2025. By this time, fellow gang members had posted mocking videos towards the opposing gang concerning Yassin’s death and had even damaged a memorial of flowers and candles left in his memory.
At trial, the prosecution deployed the use of recovered SnapChat material before the jury, evidence obtained through liaison with American law enforcement and the first such case to do so for West Midlands Police. The prosecution further adduced expert evidence from DC Gareth Evans of West Midlands Police regarding the complex gang background to the interactions between these rival factions, noting their ‘mocking’ and antagonistic drill music videos, their gang colours and gang emblems.
In passing sentence on Friday 23rd October, Her Honour Judge Kubik stated, “On 16.11.25, you armed yourself with a fearsome blue zombie knife and voluntarily engaged in a knife fight, killing Yassin Alama when you ran your weapon all the way through his abdomen with the force of a hard punch, causing devastating internal injuries. When you withdrew your blade, Yassin’s omentum was caught by the serrations and grooves within your knife and pulled out through the wound. He collapsed and bled to death in the street. Yassin Alama was 19 years old when he died. It was a shocking episode of violence on a residential street within this city at 5:20pm on a Sunday afternoon.”
Due to his age, Oumar Traore was sentenced to “be detained at His Majesty’s Pleasure, pursuant to s.259 of the Sentencing Act 2020 (SA)”. Were he older at the time of the murder, this would be called a “life sentence”.
The minimum term that he must serve before becoming eligible for release is 20 years.
Oliwier Gabis, for the offence of perverting the course of justice, received an immediate sentence of 3 years and 9 months detention. Had he had a trial, the starting point for sentence, according to HHJ Kubik K.C., would have been four and a half years detention.
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