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Mahir's killers 'have left the country', court told
Robbery victim describes attckers as 'wild animals...out to kill'
DEFENCE evidence is underway this week at the Old Bailey trial of eight men who deny being the killers of local teenager Mahir Osman.
After four weeks of testimony the prosecution closed its case against them.
The 18-year-old mechanical engineering student Mahir, got caught up in a bloody feud between rival groups of his fellow Somali countrymen. He was ambushed on a busy Saturday night on January 28 last year, in Camden High Street, opposite the Tube station,.
Mahir, nicknamed Smiley, who lived with his family in Gilbey’s Yard. Chalk Farm, dying in the roadway.
A bent and bloodstained blade recovered from the roadway had a piece broken from it. The missing fragment was taken from the victim’s chest by surgeons at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead.
Those in the dock admitted being present in the locality but they deny charges of murder, manslaughter or violent disorder.
One of them, Liban Elmi, told detectives “I didn’t do it. I was there but the people who did it have left the country.”
Mahir became detached from a group of pals and armed himself with a knife for protection, drawing it from his waistband late at night when he was approached by three men with knives.
When the “first wave” moved off a large mob went for him. He ended up in the roadway on his back behind a packed bus, said Mr Finucane.
They were shouting “Kill him, kill him, stab him dead through the heart,” the witness claimed.
A student, 16, who was beaten up and robbed of cash and two mobile phones moments after later on the opposite side of the road described how he was threatened with knives. “They were like wild animals. I didn’t stand a chance. This gang was out to kill,” said the Hampstead lad.
In the dock are accused said to be members of a group known as the NLS – North London Somalis – which had the Tottenham, Edmonton and Wood Green districts as their “turf.”
Five of them have anonymity for legal reasons.
Ismail Mohamed, 20, Liban Elmi, 20, and Mohammed Mohamud, 18, can be named.
Mahir was linked to the centric boys, also known as the ANC, whose members predominantly Somali, gathered in Centric Close, Primrose Hill.
Ismail Mohamed told the jury he intended to “go clubbing” with friends and had been drinking from a bottle of brandy when he became innocently caught up in the violence. He denied having any weapon.
He rejected a claim by the prosecution that he had been “looking for trouble.”
A 17 year old said he joined dozens of others on a bus to Camden Town out of curiosity. “I heard a couple of Boys say there were going to sort out Camden boys,” he added.
He told the jury he did not see anyone with knives at the spot where Mahir was attacked. But he admitted kicking out at Mahir as he lay in the road. “It was a stupid thing to do and I’m ashamed,” he said.
The trial continues.
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