Newham robbery victim, 82, has died

EAST HAM RESIDENT Ahmet Dobran, 82, went out on the evening of Sunday, 27th August last year – little realising that his life was about to change for ever. He was brutally attacked and never really recovered. Now his life has come to an end.

The attack on Mr Dobran was a robbery – by three young men who succeeded in removing a bracelet and a watch from his arms. What made it even more shocking was the degree of violence the robbers used. Three young men thumped and beat him so fiercely that his injuries included three fractured vertebrae.

Mr Dobran was living with Parkinson’s Disease and with cancer. His body could not cope with the shock of the attack and recover from it. His body could not, while it was trying to mend from his injuries, find the strength to keep up his fight against his other medical problems.

As Detective Inspector Iain Wallace of Newham CID explained, “Mr Dobran was hospitalised following the attack in August and had been in an induced coma for several weeks until he was recently introduced to a nursing home. Sadly Mr Dobran’s health deteriorated soon after and he was taken to hospital and passed away.”

Thanks to the intervention of these three young men, Mr Dobran was robbed of the chance to live the last few months of his life in dignity, in peace – and in quiet enjoyment of his autumn days.

One man, aged 33, was arrested and charged with robbery last December. His two accomplices have not been identified – yet. The man who was with them must know who they are. There has been no comment from the police, but presumably any coward who attacks a frail 82 year old man is also too cowardly to bring his accomplices to justice. If he is eventually convicted, this must go against him in court.

The police are waiting for the result of a post mortem before they consider whether extra charges are appropriate in this case. DI Wallace explains, “His family are utterly devastated and, whilst we are unable to ascertain at this time that he died as a result of the attack, we do know that at the very least it may have aggravated other existing conditions. We await the results of the post-mortem to determine this.

“Whilst one of the men has now been identified and charged we are still keen to trace two other men who are still outstanding,” he added. “Someone knows who these men are and I would urge them to come forward to stop them from using the same level of violence on another vulnerable person.”

•Everyone is urged to look closely at the above pictures and anyone who recognises them is urged to call the police via 101. Alternatively, you can call Crimestoppers on 0800-555 111, where you can give information anonymously.

•Read more about it:
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Raja Ali – second man charged with murder

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