Killers shot dead Chad Gordon in case of mistaken identity, court hears

A ‘gentle giant’ was shot dead on his doorstep by mistake, a court has heard.

Chad Gordon, 27, was blasted in the face after answering the door to a pair of assassins intent on revenge during the first coronavirus lockdown, the Old Bailey was told.

On May 18, the killers arrived at his address in Wiltshire Gardens, Haringey, north London, on a stolen moped, armed with a 9mm handgun and wearing crash helmets, jurors were told.

They knocked on the front door and ‘fired instantly’ when it was opened by Mr Gordon, who had autism.

A bullet struck him in the face, causing ‘catastrophic’ injuries, the court heard.

Prosecutor Oliver Glasgow QC said: ‘His family and friends, who were alerted to the sound of gunfire and the crash as he collapsed to the ground, were quickly beside him but there was nothing that could be done to save him.’

Mr Gordon’s aunt shouted at the killers as they ran back to the moped.

Without breaking stride, they pointed the gun at her and told her to shut up before escaping, the court heard.

The woman threw herself to the ground to cover a young child, jurors heard.

Mr Glasgow said it was a ‘carefully planned’ attack but for one essential aspect – the address.

The actual targets may have been people connected with Mr Gordon’s neighbours, he said.

‘Whilst the actual identity of the intended target cannot be known with any certainty, one thing is clear and that is that the person the gunmen ultimately shot dead was not the person they meant to kill.

‘Chad Gordon was the young man who was to lose his life last May in such a brutal fashion; however, Chad Gordon was the last person anyone would want to kill.

‘He was shy, quiet, and spent much of his time on his own. But despite that, he was a well-liked and polite young man, and no-one had an unkind word to say about him.

‘What makes his murder such a tragedy is that it would appear that the gunmen went to his address by mistake.’

Mr Gordon lived in Wiltshire Gardens with his grandmother and aunt.

He had been diagnosed with autism and was described by family as a ‘gentle giant’ who had nothing to do with crime.

Mr Glasgow added: ‘No-one who knew Chad Gordon can understand why he might have been targeted in such a violent and shocking way, and most believe that a mistake must have been made by his killers.’

The two gunmen were allegedly Mason Sani-Semedo and Cameron Robinson.

Javarn Carter-Fraser gave them petrol to destroy incriminating evidence while Talye Olabisi and Clive Spencer provided a change of clothes, it was alleged.

Mr Glasgow suggested they were all out to avenge the death of a friend, Jemal Ebrahim, who had been stabbed five days before.

The prosecutor said: ‘The defendants all knew each other, they each knew that a violent attack was to take place, and they each understood that the purpose in carrying out or helping others to carry out that attack was to take revenge and to inflict as much harm as possible on the people they believed had killed their friend.’

Sani-Semedo and Robinson torched the getaway bike and dumped their crash helmets in a nearby reservoir before ‘simply carrying on as if nothing had happened,’ the court heard.

They met Carter-Fraser, who handed over petrol to destroy the moped, on Seven Sisters Road after fleeing the scene, jurors were told.

‘At the same time that Mason Sani-Semedo and Cameron Robinson were carrying out the shooting, Javarn Carter-Fraser was cycling to a predetermined meeting point on Seven Sisters Road with the petrol,’ Mr Glasgow said.

‘The moped and bicycle arrived at almost exactly the same time and the handover took only seconds before Javarn Carter-Fraser was left to cycle away empty handed while Mason Sani-Semedo and Cameron Robinson set off for a nearby reservoir where they set fire to the moped and threw their crash helmets into the river.

‘Thereafter, with everyone having done their bit to conclude the violence that had occurred, they simply carried on as if nothing had happened.’

Jurors heard each of the defendants are likely to deny any knowledge of the plan to kill or the journey to Wiltshire Gardens

Sani-Semedo and Robinson are expected to say they were heading to different locations on the day of the execution, the court was told.

‘Mason Sani-Semedo denies that he was one of the two riders of the moped that travelled to Wiltshire Gardens and he is likely to claim that he was visiting or on his way to visit and friend of his called Shamaree Bailey who lives in east London,’ Mr Glasgow said.

‘Cameron Robinson denies that he was one of the two riders of the moped that travelled to Wiltshire Gardens and he is likely to claim that the white iPhone he was seen carrying in the early evening and which was later seen in the hands of one of the gunmen is a phone he had been using but which he had given to someone else.

‘Javarn Carter-Fraser denies that he played any part in or had any knowledge of the murder.

‘He is likely to accept that he did visit Beaconsfield Road and that he did provide the green petrol cannister to two people riding a moped but that he did not know what the fuel was to be used for.

‘Talye Olabisi denies that he played any part in or had any knowledge of the murder.

‘He is likely to accept that he received the black and white plastic bags from two men wearing motorcycle helmets but that the bags contained drugs he had purchased.

‘Clive Spencer denies that he played any part in or had any knowledge of the murder. He is likely to claim that the telephone and CCTV evidence simply shows him going about his normal everyday life.’

Sani-Semedo, 19, from Tottenham, north London, and Robinson, 20, of Dagenham, east London, deny murder and possessing a gun with intent.

Carter-Fraser, 23, of Tottenham; Spencer, 24, of Tottenham; and Olabisi, 24, of no fixed address, deny murder.

The trial continues.