LONDON—A gang took a “considerable risk” in kidnapping a popular Turkish DJ in a residential street in north London, rather than just having him killed, a murder trial has been told.
Koray Alpergin, 43, was abducted after taking his Turkish girlfriend, Gözde Dalbudak, 33, out for a meal at an expensive restaurant in Mayfair on Oct. 13, 2022.
He was then taken to he Stadium Lounge, a disused wine bar yards from Tottenham Hotspur’s stadium in north London, where he was tortured and killed, suffering a total of 94 injuries.
Bulgarian National in the Dock
Mr. Stoyanov, who is a Turkish-speaking Bulgarian national, and Mr. Weatherley, deny all the charges.Opening the case, prosecutor Crispin Aylett, KC said a third man, Kyrie Mitchell-Peart, 31, had pleaded guilty to kidnap and false imprisonment and would not be on trial.
Mr. Aylett told the jury on Monday, Mr. Alpergin—a popular DJ who ran a radio station called Bizim FM—and Ms. Dalbudak had just arrived back at his home in Enfield, north London when they were ambushed by a group of eight men.
He said Mr. Alpergin tried to run away but was caught and “frogmarched” back to the van, before he and Ms. Golbudak were bundled into it and driven away.
The jury was shown a CCTV clip from a neighbour’s house which included audio of what Mr. Aylett said was Mr. Alpergin “shouting for his life.”
Risk of Neighbour ‘Thwarting the Kidnap’
Mr. Aylett said: “If he had upset someone then he'd have been shot or stabbed to death. It would been the work of a moment.”“But eight men took a considerable risk by kidnapping him in a residential area and even risked the possibility of someone coming to Mr. Alpergin’s aid and thwarting the kidnap,” he added.
The prosecutor said the kidnappers did not seek a ransom for Mr. Alpergin but instead took him to an empty restaurant where he underwent several hours of torture.
Mr. Aylett said: “He was either being punished for something he had done or was being forced to give up the whereabouts of drugs or money, information his kidnappers wanted to know.”
He said Ms. Golbudak was later released by the gang and made her way to a restaurant in Islington, which was the only place in London she knew, and walked up to the owner, who was a friend of Mr. Alpergin.
She had a bruised eye and nose and was wearing an oversized jacket and a beanie hat which had been given to her by the kidnappers.
Mr. Aylett said: “From the state of her he thought she was a homeless person coming to beg for food. She said ‘You don’t recognise me do you?’”
Eventually he realised she was the young woman Mr. Alpergin had referred to as his “future wife” when he introduced her a few nights earlier.
The prosecutor said Mr. Weatherley was one of the kidnappers but Mr. Stoyanov’s role was less obvious as he was not present on the night but, he said, lent his phone to the gang and helped clean up the Stadium Lounge after Mr. Alpergin was killed.
Mr. Aylett said four other men were convicted in connection with Mr. Alpergin’s death last year.
Tejean Kennedy, 32, and Ali Kavak, 26, were both convicted of manslaughter.
Kennedy, Kavak, and Steffan Gordon, 34, were convicted of kidnap and false imprisonment and Samuel Owusu-Opoku, 29, was convicted of kidnap alone.
He said two key suspects—Ali Yildirim and Cem Orman—had fled the country shortly after the incident and remain fugitives from justice, probably in Turkey.
The trial is expected to last until mid-August.
