A 33-year-old man has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 34 years for his role in a gangland shooting outside a restaurant in east London, which left a nine-year-old girl with a bullet lodged in her brain.
The girl was hit in the head by one of six bullets fired by a man on a passing motorbike as she sat with her family in the Evin restaurant in Kingsland High Street, Hackney, on 29 May last year.
She was an innocent victim of a bloody rivalry between Turkish gangs from north London. Three men at a nearby table were also injured.
Javon Riley, 33, from Tottenham, north London, was found guilty at the Old Bailey of causing grievous harm with intent to the girl and attempting to murder Mustafa Kiziltan, 35, Kenan Aydogdu, 45, and Nasser Ali, 44.
Sentencing him on Friday, Judge Mark Lucraft KC said the gang rivalry had involved a number of “tit-for-tat” murders and attempted murders in London and overseas over the past 10 years.
The three men who were shot were said to be affiliated with the Hackney Turks organised crime gang, who had a rivalry with the Tottenham Turks, with whom Riley had links, jurors heard.
The gunman remains at large but prosecutors said Riley had played a “key role” before, during and after the shooting.
Riley carried out reconnaissance of the restaurant before the attack, scouted for potential targets and drove the gunman away in a stolen car, which was later burned out.
The nine-year-old girl spent three months in hospital and will suffer lifelong physical and cognitive problems as the bullet remains lodged in her brain.
The three male victims received gunshot wounds to the arm, leg and thigh.
Scotland Yard has offered up to £15,000 for information leading to the identification, arrest and prosecution of the person who fired the shots.
More details soon …