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Rob Kennedy

Benwell shooting: Three guilty of shotgun attack plot on home of rival's uncle

Shooting plot conspirators are facing lengthy prison sentences after a shotgun was fired at a man's window while he stood behind it.

A dispute between two factions in the West End of Newcastle culminated in the shocking attack on the home of an innocent relative of a rival.

Newcastle Crown Court heard Kesa Malik, Abdourahmane Sow and Mushfiqur Rahman were among the gang responsible for the shooting in Benwell, last June.

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Malik and Sow had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence and now Rahman has changed his plea to guilty a week into his trial.

All three are facing significant custodial sentences once the basis on which they have pleaded guilty has been resolved at a hearing next month, as they all currently deny being present at the scene of the shooting.

During Rahman's trial, Deborah Smithies, prosecuting, said: "The story begins shortly before 4pm on June 3 last year with an incident outside the Grainger Convenience Store on Fairholm Road involving two groups of men known to each other."

In that incident a silver Audi A3 was driven at at an 18-year-old and he and his friends moved out of the way and one of them threw a brick at the car.

Mushfiqur Rahman (Newcastle Chronicle)

Miss Smithies said the 18-year-old got a series of phone calls from Kesa Malik and "it's clear he was very unhappy indeed about what had happened".

"Malik threatened him and members of his family, including his uncle, Didar Mohammed - who lives in a terraced house on Colston Street, Benwell," she told the court.

At 9.40pm that night, Mr Mohammed was at home playing on his XBox when he heard a bang outside but thought nothing of it at that stage.

Ten minutes later, Malik phoned him and said of the bang: "That's me with a shotgun".

He threatened to hurt Mr Mohammed's nephew and ignored his pleas for him to calm down.

Mr Mohammed tried to call his bluff and said he didn't believe he had a gun and told him to shoot it in the sky if he did.

Kesa Malik (Newcastle Chronicle)

Miss Smithies said: "Whereupon he heard a bang coming from outside his house.

"He looked outside and saw Malik with other men wearing balaclavas around a silver Audi A3.

"The group invited him to come outside but he declined and told them to leave."

The prosecutor added: "Kesa Malik asked one of the others to hand him the gun and he aimed up at the window Mr Mohammed was standing at and fired.

"He was not harmed, the pellets hit the window but didn't penetrate the double glazing."

Later that night Mr Mohammed's nephew went to the area of a mosque in Elswick.

Around 11.45pm a group of men appeared wearing balaclavas and dark clothing and walked towards the 18-year-old. Some were armed with weapons, including a sawn-off shotgun, small revolver, machete and knives.

The teenager ran away, abandoning his car, which was stolen.

Miss Smithies said: "The prosecution can't say with certainty who those men were at the Bilal mosque but one was Mr Sow."

Abdourahmane Sow (Newcastle Chronicle)

Police recovered a spent shotgun cartridge in Colston Street and it was found to have DNA from three people on it, one of whom prosecutors said was Rahman.

On June 6, Rahman's Audi was seized by police and allegedly had a balaclava in the centre console, the court was told.

Mr Mohammed, 25, in a video-recorded interview with police, said his nephew had told him he had some problems with Malik and they had argued.

The nephew had said something about Malik's wife and Malik had said something about mum, he said.

He said when Malik phoned him: "I said calm down you are not in the movies, you are not a gangster."

He said he offered to talk to him the following day and told him his nephew was a "little kid" and "harmless".

Of the moment he aimed and shot at the window he was at, he said: "The bullets were a foot away from my head."

Malik, 26, of Wingrove Gardens, Newcastle, Sow, 18, of Ardgowan Road, London and Rahman, 27, of Lanercost Road, Fenham, are remanded in custody until the next hearing.

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