LONDON—An aspiring lawyer was stabbed to death by a gang intent on violence after he and a friend walked back from a supermarket in north west London after buying groceries, a jury has been told.
On Wednesday the Old Bailey was told Sven Badzak, 22, suffered fatal injuries after being attacked on Feb. 6, 2021, by a gang from the South Kilburn estate who were seeking to target rival youths.
But prosecutor Anthony Orchard, KC, told the trial: “Neither victim was a gang member or associate. It appears they were the unfortunate victims of mistaken identity.”
Rashid Gedel, 21, and Shiroh Ambersley, 22, both deny murder, attempted murder and an alternative charge of wounding with intent.
Orchard said Gedel and Ambersley were two of the six assailants who attacked Badzak and his friend on Willesden Lane in Kilburn at 5:37 p.m. on a Saturday afternoon.
The jury was told a third man, Harvey Canavan, 19, was not on trial, having pleaded guilty to manslaughter and to unlawful wounding.
A fourth suspect, Lior Agbayan, has fled abroad and is now wanted for extradition, said Orchard.
Orchard said Gedel got a taxi from his mother’s home in Kingsbury to the South Kilburn estate around 3 p.m. on the afternoon of the murder and met up with other members of the gang.
They began heading north up Kilburn High Road and 15 minutes before the attack a delivery driver noticed the six sitting in and on his car as he waited to pick up food from a chicken shop. He shouted at them and they walked off.
The jury was then shown a CCTV clip from inside a Wenzel’s bakery taken at 5:20 p.m. which showed a masked man entering the shop while another man waits at the door, as two young people buy some food.
Orchard said Gedel was the masked man while Ambersley was the man waiting at the door.
Orchard said: “Gedel is captured on CCTV walking to the right of the two young people and apparently ‘inspecting’ them, before leaving. Nothing was purchased ... We suggest Gedel and Ambersley were looking for a youth or youths for the group they were with to attack, scouting them out.”
Seventeen minutes later Badzak—who had been to university and planned to train as a solicitor—and his friend were attacked.
Pair Were ‘Minding Their Own Business’
He said they were walking along “minding their own business” and were unaware they had been targeted by the gang.Seconds later the pair were attacked.
Orchard said: “[Badzak’s friend] recalls three boys came up to them and said ‘What are you on?’ One of the boys then stabbed Sven in the chest and [Badzak’s friend] was stabbed in the back. [Badzak’s friend], having been stabbed ran west along Willesden Lane, chased by, he thought, three males. In total, he recalls six attackers.”
Badzak was stabbed four times but managed to run a short distance before collapsing outside a burger restaurant.
Paramedics arrived but were unable to save his life. Pathologist Dr Charlotte Randall conducted a post-mortem examination which showed the cause of death was a stab wound through the heart.
Badzak’s friend—who was 16 years old at the time—was stabbed once in the back but he managed to run 150 yards to a Tesco store where he sought help. The attackers gave up the chase and headed back to the South Kilburn estate, said Orchard.
Badzak’s friend had been stabbed through the lung and underwent surgery at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington for the “life-threatening” injury.
Jury Told About Evidence From Snapchat
The prosecutor said Gedel had the Instagram and Snapchat handles Broadayyay, while Ambersley was known by the street name Shox.
Orchard said: “Police were able to recover material from Gedel’s Snapchat account. The day after the stabbings he boasted he was ‘getting things done’ to music that referred to ‘attacking the opposition’. The images on Snapchat also showed a rolled cigarette, referred to as a spliff when such a cigarette contains herbal cannabis. There was text over the video saying ’take him in' with three cigarette emojis.”
Concluding his opening statement, Orchard told the jury: “This was an attack by a group of six on two innocent passers-by .... Given the later social media post by Gedel the evidence indicates that that evening Gedel and Ambersley were intent on attacking any member or perceived member of an opposition gang. Sven Badzak and [Badzak’s friend] were the unfortunate victims of mistaken identity.”
The trial—which was delayed by almost a year because of the barristers’ strike—is set to last several weeks.
