A young girl caught in the crossfire of a drive-by shooting while eating dinner at a restaurant with her family in East London had to have sections of her skull removed. The nine-year-old was shot in the head when a gunman opened fire while passing on a motorbike in a failed ‘planned assassination’ of rival gang members, the Old Bailey heard.
The girl was with her family at the Evin restaurant in Kingsland High Street, in Dalston, when the terrifying shooting took place on May 29 least year. A bullet lodged in her brain while three other men – Mustafa Kiziltan, Kenan Aydogdu and Nasser Ali, who were seated with others at a pavement table outside the busy restaurant – were hit on various parts of their bodies.
She has had to endure several intensive operations at Great Ormond Street Hospital, and the first had to be carried out the day after the shooting. Mr Mulholland said: “Sections of her skull were removed to relieve swelling to the brain and these have since been replaced with a titanium plate. She was in hospital for three months before being allowed to return home.
“Although she has made a relatively good recovery, she will continue to have physical and cognitive difficulties throughout her life.”
Tottenham Turks vs Hackney Turks gang warfare
A trial has opened at the Old Bailey, with the jury told the shooting appeared to have been part of “an ongoing dispute” between two rival London gangs known as the Tottenham Turks and the Hackney Turks, also known as the “Bombacilars”, but the “immediate reason for it was unknown”.
On Tuesday, prosecutor James Mulholland KC said: “These two gangs have had an intense rivalry for well over a decade which has involved the use of extreme violence towards one another during that period, and it is the prosecution case that what was intended was the murder of whomever was targeted.”
Those seated outside restaurant had affiliations towards the Hackney Turks and the ones who had ordered the shooting were from the Tottenham Turks, the prosecution say. Mr Mulholland told the jury: “You will hear in conversations covertly recorded in a car used by Javon Riley some time after the shooting that, although he was not a member of the Tottenham Turks, he clearly knew of them and was linked to them and that they were behind the shooting.”
Riley, 33, has pleaded not guilty to four charges of attempted murder together with others and an alternative charge of causing grievous bodily harm with intent against the girl, who cannot be named because of her age. It is alleged he played “a key role before, during and after the shooting”.
Riley, of Tottenham, carried out reconnaissance of the restaurant, travelled past the scene several times to ensure the target or targets were present before the shooting and he helped the gunman evade capture, it is alleged. The gunman has never been tracked down.
Mr Mulholland KC said: “The prosecution case is that this was a planned assassination of members of a rival gang by Mr Riley and others. This is evident from the degree of planning involved, his behaviour and comments before, during and after the event – as well as common sense.
“Those who wanted this shooting to take place put the planning of the event under Mr Riley’s control, possibly with the assistance of others.”
It is not suggested that Riley fired the shots from the Ducati Monster motorbike which stopped briefly on the road outside the restaurant. Jurors were told the rider “raised his right arm and fired six shots in quick succession” which hit the three men sitting in a group outside, but also struck the little girl.
The wounded men were taken to Royal London Hospital where each was operated upon for serious injuries caused by bullet wounds to thigh, leg and backbone respectively. Each appears to have made “a reasonable recovery”.
It is claimed that Riley was “vital in the carrying out of the plan to kill”. The court heard that after the shooting, the gunman rode the motorbike to a nearby street where Riley was waiting in a stolen Nissan Juke on false plates before they “calmly” headed to north London before transferring into Riley’s Range Rover.
Covert police recordings in the months after the shooting, show Riley talking about a man called Izzet Eren, who is linked to the Tottenham Turks and was shot in Moldova on July 10 last year in what was believed to be a revenge attack. He also spoke about a man called “Kem”, whom the prosecution believe is Kemal Eren – one of those closely involved in the Tottenham Turks.
Within two days of the shooting two vehicles, a Mitsubishi Outlander and the Nissan Juke, which had been used for reconnaissance, were torched, the jury was told.
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