A 71-YEAR-OLD holy man and his 67-year-old wife took part in a violent attack on a rival family in massive street brawl, a court heard.Nadir Khan, president of the New Medina Mosque, and other members of his family, attacked Mohammed Iqbal Khan and his family on August 7, 2009, Bolton Crown Court was told yesterday.
A jury heard that Nadir Khan's family, referred to as the Marlborough Street group, were armed with baseball bats, cricket bats and a car steering wheel lock.
The 10 defendants are all charged with violent disorder and a variety of other offences, all of which have been denied.
The families attend the same mosque and have a long standing grievance towards each other, the jury was told.
Shahzad Bahadar, known as Razaq, who, the Crown say, was the leader of the Marlborough group, contacted Mohammed Iqbal Khan's brother, Mazhar, and asked them to come and sort out their differences as Ramadan was near and they could start with a clean slate.
But when they arrived, there were 20 to 25 Asian men in the street armed with weapons and violence broke out.
Peter Barr, prosecuting, said: "It is the Crown's case that this is a most serious case of a pre-planned ambush, violent disorder.
"Weapons were carried, weapons were used and people were seriously hurt."