Man shot dead in revenge for stolen Rolex, court told

A man was shot dead in revenge for the robbery of a Rolex watch after being in the “wrong place at the wrong time”, a court has heard.

Imani Allaway-Muir, 22, was found mortally injured in a children’s play area in Islington, north London, just metres from an alleyway where he was attacked on the afternoon of July 4, 2020.

He suffered multiple wounds and died 30 minutes after he was shot.

The Old Bailey was told the shooting in a residential cul-de-sac in Roman Way was witnessed by several people, one of whom identified the gunman as Nathaniel Reece.

Prosecutor Jacob Hallam QC told jurors: “It is the prosecution’s case that this killing of Mr Allaway-Muir was and is murder and was a revenge attack, mounted in retaliation for the robbery of the first defendant, Demetrios Kyriacou.

“In that robbery property was taken from Mr Kyriacou – for example his telephones and his Rolex watch.”

After the robbery, Kyriacou was allegedly joined by a group of friends and family at a flat where he was living on the Six Acres Estate in Islington.

Inquiries were made to track down the stolen mobile phone and in turn find the rest of his property and the culprits, it was alleged.

On locating the phone, Reece and Kyriacou met associate Hassan Hamza, who gestured down an alleyway where a group of people had gathered, jurors were told.

Seconds later, Reece shot Mr Allaway-Muir, the court heard.

Mr Hallam told jurors the victim had only just arrived at the location of the stolen property moments before Kyriacou and Reece.

He said: “When Reece opened fire, Imani Allaway-Muir was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Reece, 40, Kyriacou, 35, and Hamza, 28, have denied murder, along with Matthew Hardy, 35, William Hardy, 71, Darren Dredge, 40, Dean Walker, 33, and James Nicholson, 36, who have addresses in north London or are of no fixed abode.