'Simply crushing' - Heartbroken family speak out after former Ellesmere College student who knifed friend through heart released early
The early release of a former Ellesmere College pupil who killed his friend by knifing him through the heart has been described as "crushing" by his victim's family.
Joshua Molnar, now 18, was cleared of murder and manslaughter following the death of 17-year-old Yousef Makki, but was detained for possession of a knife.
His release comes days before the first anniversary of the incident at Hale Barns, Cheshire on March 2 last year.
A trial heard Molnar acted in self-defence when Yousef pulled out a knife in a row over an attempt to rob a drug dealer. However, Molnar falsely suggested Yousef had been stabbed by someone who drove off in a grey VW Polo,
Molnar was sentenced to eight months in a young offenders institute and given a training order, after he admitted perverting the course of justice and possession of a knife.
In a statement on Tuesday, they wrote: "To receive the news some six days before such a pivotal date in the lives of Yousef's many friends and family members, is simply crushing.
"There is no other word for it."
Molnar had been at one time a pupil at Ellesmere College, a £33,000-a-year boarding school in Shropshire, where Latin is still taught and its alumni include former England rugby union captain Bill Beaumont, the current chairman of World Rugby, and Hugh Grosvenor, the seventh Duke of Westminster.
He starred in the school rugby union first XV, playing at number eight before leaving with six GCSEs.
