Asian man convicted of racist murder of boy, 15

An Asian man was convicted yesterday of the racially motivated murder of a schoolboy who was tortured, stabbed and burnt alive because he was white.

Daanish Zahid, 20, had pleaded not guilty to assaulting, abducting and murdering Kriss Donald, 15, in Glasgow in March this year.

The boy was abducted by a gang of Asian men just yards from his home in the Pollokshields area of Glasgow. The teenager's mutilated and burnt body was later found on a walkway in the east end of Glasgow.

Zahid admitted being in a car at the scene where the schoolboy was attacked, but he told the High Court in Glasgow court he had not taken part in the killing and blamed others, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

The jury was told that the only reason the schoolboy, who did not know his attackers, had been singled out for attack was because he was white.The court was told that the killing was a revenge attack for an assault on an Asian man.

Kriss Donald, described as defenceless and slightly built, was bundled into a stolen Mercedes car and taken on a 200-mile round trip via Dundee to the other side of Glasgow where he was beaten and stabbed and then set on fire while still alive.

It took the jury just two and a quarter hours to convict Zahid. He was also found guilty of attacking Kriss's friend Jamie Wallace, 20, who had been walking with the boy when they were set upon.

Lord Philip deferred sentence on Zahid and his co-accused, Zahid Mohammed, 20, who was earlier cleared of the murder, but pleaded guilty to other charges, for background reports until 16 December.