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Mahir Osman |
‘This gang were out to kill,’ says victim
Murder accused robbed boy at knife point, jury told
MURDER victim Mahir Osman may have been armed with a knife himself when he was fatally stabbed in a mob attack in Camden Town, a jury heard this week.
The 18-year-old mechanical engineer student appeared to draw a blade from his waistband before being overwhelmed and felled, the Old Bailey was told.
As the trial of eight accused entered its third week, a prosecution witness said: “It was awful, vicious and violent.”
At first Mahir was confronted by three men each carrying a knife and he produced his own to defend himself, stabbing one in the leg.
“He was helped away by two companions. Then a large group of Somali boys began to attack. I heard them shouting ‘Kill him, kill him, stab him dead through the heart’,” the witness claimed.
Long-bladed knives looted from Sainsbury’s had the wrappers discarded near the spot where Mahir was repeatedly knifed during a sudden explosion of violence which had innocent members of the public fleeing for cover, said prosecutor Brendan Finucane, QC.
The 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 set on and robbed.
The 16-year-old mugging victim said: “A gang of guys, one wearing a bandana across his face surrounded me. I felt a blow into the back of my head. Knives were flicked out in front of me and I was head-butted. There was no way out for me. They were like wild animals. I didn’t stand a chance. They took £10 and my phones.”
The Hampstead lad added: “ This gang was out to kill. They all wore hoods and one had a screwdriver. If I had nothing for them to take, I could have been stabbed to death.”
Trainers, taken from people caught up in violence on a busy Saturday night in January last year, were all carried off in triumph as ‘trophies’ by the laughing and joking thugs, the court heard.
Mahir, nicknamed Smiley, lived with his family in Gilbey’s Yard, Chalk Farm.
He was struck down near the junction of Camden High Street and Parkway.
Special investigator Pam Curnow told the court how she viewed CCTV footage “several thousand times” to form a clearer view of what happened and of those taking part.
Detective Constable Curnow carefully took the jury through the films and highlighted individuals.
Armed with long-bladed knives, bottles, lumps of wood with nails in them, and scaffold poles, the gang advanced on Camden High Street moments before Mahir was murdered.
As they fled Camden Road to pile on to a 253 double decker, hoping to get back to their north London base, one shouted in Somali: “We’ve done the bastard.”
In the dock are eight men who are said to be members of a group known as NLS – North London Somalis – which recruited in the Tottenham, Edmonton and Wood Green districts.
All admit to being in the Camden Town area but all deny charges of 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 Wangita, 25, Ismail Mohamed, 20 and Liban Elim, 20, can be identified. Mohamed is from Haringey.
The other two are said to be of no fixed address.
The murder followed a string of violent clashes between rival Somali gangs in North London. Mahir ran with the Centric Boys, also known as the ANC, whose members gathered in Centric Close, Primrose Hill.
The case continues.
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