Javon Riley helped gunman escape after ‘planned assassination’ attempt on Turkish gang rivals at Dalston restaurant
A man has been found guilty of his role in a gangland shooting that left a nine-year-old girl with a bullet lodged in her brain after she was caught in the crossfire of a botched assassination attempt.
Javon Riley, 33, helped the motorbike-riding gunman escape from the scene after he fired six times at the Evin Restaurant in Dalston, east London, on 29 May last year. The innocent schoolgirl was inside eating ice cream with her family when the first bullet missed its intended targets and struck her in the head.
Prosecutors said the Tottenham Turks gang had ordered the planned assassination of members of the rival Hackney Turks, who were sitting at a table outside the busy Turkish restaurant on Kingsland High Street.
Police said it was a “miracle” the girl survived and they were just “millimetres” away from launching a murder investigation. The child, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, spent more than three months in hospital where surgeons rebuilt her skull with titanium plates.
Despite making a good recovery, she still has the bullet lodged in her brain and is expected to have physical and cognitive difficulties for the rest of her life. The youngster was having dinner with her family when the shooting erupted, turning a normal evening meal into a scene of terror.
Riley, from the Tottenham area, was found guilty at the Old Bailey on Monday of three charges of attempted murder relating to three men, and causing grievous bodily harm with intent to the girl. He had denied all charges, claiming he believed he was involved in a £40,000 “smash and grab” drug robbery.
The court heard how the gunman, riding a powerful Ducati Monster motorbike, fired six bullets in two seconds. Dramatic footage caught on the helmet camera of an off-duty policeman captured the moment of the attack.
Three men who were the intended targets scrambled to get inside the restaurant but were all hit. Nasser Ali, 43, suffered a wound to his backbone, Kenan Aydogdu, 45, was shot in the leg and Mustafa Kiziltan, 35, was hit in the thigh.
Prosecutors said Riley, though not a member of the Tottenham Turks himself, played “a key role” before, during and after the shooting. The court heard he carried out surveillance in the weeks before, once sipping pina coladas at a bar across the road from the restaurant as he watched his targets.
After the shooting, the gunman ditched his motorbike and was driven away by Riley in a stolen Nissan Juke on false plates. They later transferred to Riley’s Range Rover in north London. Riley then disposed of the weapon and arranged for cars used in the plot to be set on fire.
During his trial, Riley told the jury he had never met the gunman and refused to name the person who had hired him, telling jurors: “It’s not just my life but my family too. They can get me anyway.”
The career criminal admitted being involved in “various stuff of criminality” and told the court he had three children with two different partners, as well as at least four other girlfriends or “friends with benefits” living around London.
The court heard Riley has a string of convictions dating back to 2008 including for possession of cannabis and cocaine, driving offences, and having an offensive weapon and a blade in his car. He also admitted involvement with stealing cars, drug dealing and robberies, though he had never been caught for those offences.
Detective Inspector Ben Dalloway told Sky News after the verdict: “This isn’t a regular case, this is a completely innocent individual, a child, that’s been shot and if you can’t bring yourself to come forward with information… we need your help.”
He added: “You can see from the fact that the gunman here shot six rounds into a busy restaurant where diners were sat, minding their own business, they don’t care. As long as they send a message, as long as they seek to harm the opposition, they’ll stop at nothing.”
Police are offering a reward of up to £15,000 for information to help catch the gunman, who is believed to have links to south London, and those involved in orchestrating the shooting. The gunman remains at large.
The shooting was said to be part of an ongoing dispute between the Tottenham Turks and the Hackney Turks, also known as the “Bombacilars”, which has involved extreme violence for more than a decade.
Covert police recordings after the shooting captured Riley talking about Izzet Eren, who is linked to the Tottenham Turks and was shot in Moldova on 10 July last year in what was believed to be a revenge attack.
The case has highlighted the devastating impact of gang violence on innocent members of the public, with a young child now facing a lifetime of challenges because of a feud she had nothing to do with.
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