LONDON: A Jamaica-born man who masterminded a gangland shooting in Hackney that left a nine-year-old girl of Keralite origin with life-changing injuries was on Friday sentenced to life imprisonment, with a minimum term of 34 years.
The Old Bailey found Javon Riley, 33, of Tottenham, guilty of orchestrating the attack at the Evin Café on May 29 last year. The child—who had gone for ice cream with her family—was struck in the head by the first of six bullets fired from a passing stolen motorbike. Three men sitting outside the Turkish café were the intended targets.
A jury convicted Riley on August 18 of the attempted murders of Mustafa Kiziltan (35), Kenan Aydogdu (45), and Nasser Ali (44), as well as causing grievous bodily harm to the girl. The men survived gunshot wounds to their limbs, but a bullet remains lodged in the girl’s brain, leaving her permanently disabled.
Her parents, originally from Gothuruth in Kerala’s Ernakulam district, had moved to Birmingham three years ago. “She was once an energetic, adventurous child. Now, weakness on her left side means she can only watch from the sidelines, living with a titanium plate in her skull and a bullet in her brain,” her mother told the court.
Detective Chief Inspector Joanna Yorke welcomed the sentence, saying it “reminds us justice can be served, though it cannot undo the suffering caused.”
The court heard Riley had surveilled the café for days, confirmed the targets’ presence, and afterwards helped the shooter escape and dispose of the weapon, which remains missing. He had a criminal record in the UK dating back to 2008.
