A REAL-LIFE ‘Fagin’ recruited a gang of teenagers to rob a security guard, a court heard last week.
James Sorhaindo, 34, of Sherrard Road, Forest Gate, enlisted two 16-year-olds to snatch £8,200 being collected from a petrol station, it was said. Snaresbrook Crown Court heard Fhaizo Mulwinda, 18, of Henniker Point, Leytonstone Road, Stratford, was behind the wheel of a second car in convoy with getaway driver James Matovu, 45, of Claremont Road, Forest Gate.
Prosecutor David Markham QC said the 16-year-old bandits attacked the guard from behind at the petrol station in Leytonstone. The teenage pair, who cannot be named, were later arrested fleeing Sorhaindo’s flat after stashing the loot in their underpants, jurors heard.
Mr. Markham said eye-witnesses saw Sorhaindo hurling cash from his balcony as police swooped on his flat. Sorhaindo frantically tried to scrub invisible dye known as ‘SmartWater’ from the cash but had been unsuccessful, jurors heard. The dye shows up under UV light revealing a code allowing police to link it with a particular crime scene.
One of the teenage boys texted ‘done’ to Sorhaindo after the raid in August last year, said Mr. Markham. “The text message would suggest that Mr. Sorhaindo was the person to whom the young defendants were largely answerable,” said the barrister. “The term Fagin would not be misapplied to Mr. Sorhaindo in this cas"’ the prosecutor added.
Mulwinda’s fingerprints were discovered on a bin liner around the cashbox, jurors heard. Mr. Markham said Mulwinda drove a second car behind Matovu’s Renault Megane. The jury heard the two I 6-year-olds later told police they were each handed £400 hush money to keep quiet in police interview. Sorhaindo, Matovu, Mulwinda and the two 16-year-olds, both of Dagenham, all deny conspiracy to rob on August 15 last year. The trial continues.
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