A HEROIN addict who stood trial for blackmail with menaces has been cleared. A jury found Kolander Ali not guilty of the charges after a three-day trail at Ipswich Crown Court.
A HEROIN addict who stood trial for blackmail with menaces has been cleared.
A jury found Kolander Ali not guilty of the charges after a three-day trail at Ipswich Crown Court.
The court heard that Ali, 26, denied threatening his mother Ruffeda with a knife if she did not give him cash to buy drugs.
Mr Ali became a heroin addict after his father's death in 1997. Giving evidence he told the court that he had inheritance in a Bangladeshi bank and each time he asked for money he expected it would be taken from the account.
Mrs Alit told the court that her son regularly asked her for cash to pay for his habit. She said that in June 14 he kicked her bedroom door open while she was asleep and demanded money. She said he returned half an hour later and asked for £45 and later that night threatened her with a knife as he asked for £50.
Mr Ali said he asked politely for the cash and had not threatened her.
He said: "She said I am fed up with you I have had enough of you. I went to the kitchen to get a drink.
"When I came back she was on the phone to the police. I said what are they going to do? And she said you will see."
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