Yousef Makki's sister reveals their mother was 'depressed' and 'felt like the walls were closing in on her' before she died with a 'broken heart' a year after her son, 17, was stabbed to death
by Ann Cusack For Mailonline- EXCLUSIVE: Yousef Makki was knifed by his friend Joshua Molnar in Hale Barns
- Molnar, from Cheshire, was cleared of Yousef's murder and manslaughter
- Yousef's mother Debbie Makki, 55, died from suspected sepsis yesterday
- Was rushed to hospital after she was unable to move and died in intensive care
- Her daughter Jade Akoum believes her mother, Debbie, died from a broken heart
- Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19
The sister of a private schoolboy who was stabbed to death has revealed how their mother was 'depressed' and felt like 'the walls were closing in on her' before dying of suspected sepsis yesterday.
Yousef Makki, 17, a scholarship pupil at £13,000-a-year Manchester Grammar School, was knifed by his friend, former public schoolboy Joshua Molnar, 18, during a fight in upmarket Hale Barns, Cheshire, on March 2 last year.
His mother Debbie Makki - who tested negative for coronavirus - died of suspected sepsis yesterday aged 55. She was rushed to hospital on Friday after she was unable to move and died in intensive care.
Speaking to FEMAIL, sister Jade Akoum shed light on her mother's mental state in the weeks before her death.
Jade said: 'Mum fought to her last breath. She was depressed, she did find the lockdown particularly stressful, but she never lost any of her determination. I think she felt the walls were closing in on her.
'She was isolating with my brother, Mazen. Me and the kids saw her twice when we passed some shopping to her over the fence.'
Debbie, a vulnerable person who suffered with a severe form of arthritis, had been isolating with her youngest son, Mazen, 16, when she fell ill last Wednesday.
Jade, from Manchester, said lockdown had 'isolated' her mother from her beloved grandchildren, who had 'kept her going' as she grieved for her son.
Paramedics rushed Debbie to Wythenshawe Hospital in Manchester, but she lost her fight for life in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Jade continued: 'It all happened really quickly. She got ill on Wednesday with an infection and by Friday was in a really bad way.
'She was tested for coronavirus, but it was negative. Her arthritis really played a part in her deteriorating health but I feel she died of broken heart, she found it so hard to keep going after losing Yousef.
'She got so bad. Paramedics rushed her to Wythenshawe last Wednesday. By Friday she was on life support in ICU. It was so frightening. Doctors think she had an infection which developed into sepsis.'
Yousef, who wanted to be a heart surgeon, was stabbed during an altercation with Molnar in Hale Barns – a wealthy Cheshire commuter village popular with footballers – on March 2.
Molnar, from a wealthy family, was cleared of Yousef's murder and manslaughter following a trial at Manchester Crown Court last July when he claimed he acted in self-defence.
He admitted possession of a knife and perverting the course of justice and was given 16 months in custody.
Jade, who insisted 'she wanted justice and we will keep fighting,' said: 'At least she is with Yousef now. That's what we would like to believe.'
She added: 'Mazen now has to decide whether to live with us in the house he grew up in or with my other sister in Devon. We have given him the choice but didn't want to pressure him. He has been through so much for a teenager.
'Sadly, mum was put into an induced coma, so she didn't know what was going on and I don't think she was aware of how ill she was.
'The last conversation we had we were talking about the Justice for Yousef Campaign, and she said if something was to ever happen to her, for us to carry on with trying to get justice.
'The day that Yousef died, part of my mother died too. But losing her has made us even determined to fight for justice – for Yousef and for her.'
Adam Chowdhary, 18, one of Yousef's closest pals, was with him when he was stabbed in the chest and was convicted of possession of a knife and sentenced to a four-month detention order.
He was cleared of perverting the course of justice and, along with Molnar, was found not guilty of a single charge of conspiracy to robbery.
The court heard they led 'double lives' and that Yousef had died following a row over a drug deal that had gone wrong.
The two defendants had agreed to mug dealer Ali Ezzedine with flick-knives while Yousef looked on 'some distance away'.
Molnar was attacked in the failed robbery, jurors were told, leading to a later confrontation with Yousef. Molnar initially told police that two men in a silver car had stopped and killed their friend.
But he later admitted claimed self-defence. He alleged that Yousef, from Burnage, Manchester, pulled a knife on him and punched him. The prosecution said there was no evidence Yousef was carrying a knife.
Molnar was cleared of murder and manslaughter after arguing that the tragedy was an accident.