A Nigerian-born music manager in the United Kingdom, Emmanuel Odunlami, was stabbed to death after leaving an exclusive restaurant in London, the United Kingdom, a court heard.
The Old Bailey heard on Tuesday that three criminals took Emmanuel Odunlami’s Patek Philippe Nautilus, believing it was the genuine article.
According to Metro, Odunlami was stabbed to death over a phony luxury watch when a security guard, Kavindu Hettiarachchi, spotted the timepiece — which can cost up to £300,000 — and filmed Odunlami wearing it outside the City of London cafe.
Hettiarachchi alerted his associates, who “waited for their prey,” chasing, catching, and beating the victim who had been stabbed in the heart.
One took the watch during the assault “and was heard to say, ‘Got it’,” said prosecutor Duncan Atkinson, KC.
Meanwhile, Hettiarachchi, 30, has denied manslaughter while appearing in court.
Quincy Ffrench, 27, Jordell Menzies, 26, and Louis Vandrose, 27, are the three thieves accused of killing Odunlami. They have all admitted robbery but not murder.
Menzies, whose DNA was found on the attack knife, confessed to manslaughter.
Antonios Kfoury, 21, a Hettiarachchi colleague, also denied perverting justice, claiming he lied to police to cover for Hettiarachchi.
Odunlami, a 32-year-old music industry executive, was attacked by the three robbers after leaving Haz eatery near St Paul’s Cathedral in London on May 1, last year, according to the Old Bailey.
Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson KC said that the watch “may have not been genuine”, but was treated as such by those accused of stealing it.
He told jurors that Hettiarachchi was “an integral member of the security team” who had been hired by the events organiser Playhxuse for the private ticketed brunch and afterparty with DJ.
Mr Atkinson said: “It was part of his role to protect the safety of those, like Mr Odunlami, who were attending the event. In fact he did the opposite.”
The victim, known to friends as Jay, worked in the music industry, managing a number of performing artists, jurors were told.
He had traveled to the City in his grey hatchback Mercedes on the day of his death to celebrate his birthday with pals, having purchased seats for a £1,400 table.
Atkinson told the court: “Sadly, as it was to turn out, he liked expensive brand watches. At the time when he was fatally attacked, he was wearing an Patek Philippe Nautilus watch.
“If real, such a watch could be worth anything in a range from £90,000 to £300,000.
“It is believed the deceased’s watch may not have been genuine, but was treated as genuine by those who sought to take it.”
The court was told that as the celebration came to a conclusion about 11 p.m., Hettiarachchi was seen on video shooting outside the venue and calling Louis Vandrose.
The court heard that Vandrose and Jordell Menzies were then driven by Quincy Ffrench in a white Mercedes with altered number plates from north-west London.
Atkinson said: “The evidence shows that Ffrench, Vandrose and Menzies were setting off in car with a disguised registration in order to carry out a robbery, and that their target for that robbery was at the Haz restaurant where Hettiarachchi was working, and to which by phone he had summoned them.”
Jurors were told the security operator had filmed the victim and his “high-value” watch and then appeared to type something into his phone.
Atkinson said: “The prosecution case is that he was making those other defendants aware of Mr Odunlami and his watch, in order that they could rob him of that apparently very valuable item.
“In common sense, those planning the robbery of Mr Odunlami of what appeared to be a very valuable watch would not have expected him just to surrender.
“Rather, he needed to be compelled to do so, and to that end one of those travelling in Mr Ffench’s Mercedes was armed with a knife.”
Atkinson said: “When they were ready, the defendants Ffrench, Vandrose and Menzies got out of the car and ran towards Mr Odunlami.
“On seeing the robbers closing in on him, Mr Odunlami tried to run, but he was caught by Menzies and then taken to the ground by the combination of Menzies and by Vandrose.
“Once Mr Odunlami was on the ground, all three defendants attacked him, shod feet were used as weapons to kick the defenceless man on the ground.
“During the course of that attack, one of the robbers, identifiable as Ffrench, bent down and took the object of this exercise, Mr Odunlami’s Patek Phillippe Nautilus watch.
“As he did so he was heard to say ‘got it’.”
The defendants then ran off, leaving the victim on the ground with a fatal stab wound to the chest.
Atkinson said: “It appears from the CCTV that he was stabbed before any demand was made of him, or any other form of attempt to take his watch from him.”
A flick knife was recovered nearby and linked by scientific analysis to the victim and Menzies, who had used it to kill him, jurors heard.
Afterwards, the three robbers travelled to Bloomsbury where they changed their clothes before parting company, the court was told.
Atkinson said: “The prosecution case is that Menzies was physically responsible for the use of that knife to stab an unarmed man.
“It was a blow delivered with at least a moderate level of force, in the estimation of the pathologist, that penetrated 8cm through Mr Odunlami’s chest into the right ventricle of his heart.”
Menzies is charged with murder, along with Ffrench and Vandrose, who are accused of conspiring to encourage and facilitate the deadly stabbing.
Hettiarachchi, of Harrow, who worked as a security operator for Supreme Security, is accused of robbery and manslaughter.
Hettiarachchi was said to have fake reproductions of high-value watches in his residence, implying an interest in and knowledge of pricey timepieces.
He allegedly sought the assistance of his friend and colleague Kfoury, of Ealing, who is accused of perverting the course of justice.
Kfoury is accused of attempting to conceal Hettiarachchi’s role in the security arrangements for the event at Haz and making a false statement to authorities.
The defendants have rejected the charges against them, and the trial at the Old Bailey continues.