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Victim Mahir Osman |
‘Stab him in heart’ cry as gang attacked
Jury watches CCTV footage showing street killing
EYE-witnesses this week described the savage “explosion” of violence in Camden Town which claimed the life of teenager Mahir Osman.
Seconds before knives were repeatedly plunged into the 18-year-old student in an attack by members of a rival Somali gang, a shocked passer-by heard the shout: “Stab him. Stab him through the heart.”
An Old Bailey jury of three women and nine men watched CCTV footage of the killing and of an incident seconds later in which a young Asian man was robbed of two mobile phones.
Engineering apprentice Mahir, nicknamed Smiley, lived with his family in Gilbey’s Yard, Camden Town.
He was struck down on a busy Saturday night – January 28 last year – near the junction of Camden High Street and Parkway.
Prosecutor Brendan Finucane, QC, said: “He suffered 30 separate injuries including three fatal stab wounds to the back. It was all over in less than a minute.”
But from more than 20 security cameras in the area, some able to swivel and zoom, the identities of the 40 men involved in the attack could be established, said Mr Finucane.
They were armed with long-bladed knives, bottles, lumps of wood and scaffold poles. A Somali businessman heard the chilling encouragement to aim for the heart in his own language. And as the assailants fled one shouted: “We’ve done the bastard” – again in Somali.
In the dock are eight men said to be members of a gang known as the NLS – North London Somalis – which recruited in Tottenham, Edmonton and Wood Green.
All admit being in the Camden Town area but deny murder, manslaughter and violent disorder.
Five of them have anonymity because they were juveniles at the time of their alleged participation. One is 16 and four 17.
Faisal Wangota, 25, Ismail Mohamed, 20, and Libam Elmi, 20, can be identified.
A series of violent clashes between rival gangs – Mahir ran with the Centric Boys, also known as the ANC, whose members gathered in Centric Close, Primrose Hill – led to the “murderous” attack on him.
The case continues.
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