Kaan Aslan murder trial: Gang rivalry led to innocent victim being killed

Kaan Aslan

KAAN Aslan was chased down and stabbed through the heart by thugs armed with swords in retribution for a gang attack on the brother of the man now on trial for his murder, the Old Bailey heard 19 March Tuesday.

Aslan, 20, who was not part of any gangs, was “in the wrong place at the wrong time” when he was fatally knifed in the chest in Monteagle Way, Lower Clapton, just before midnight on November 13, 2017, according to prosecutor Oliver Glasgow QC.

Medics fought to save his life but he was pronounced dead at the scene 15 minutes later.

At least five men are thought to have taken part in the “planned attack” but just one – Bruno Pateco-Te, 24, of Chelmer Road, Homerton is standing trial for murder and violent disorder.

It originated in rivalry between three Hackney gangs, the Niners, Stokey 16 and London Fields, according to the Crown Court.

The court heard Aslan was not the only focus of the group’s “blood lust” that evening. Two cyclists had been set upon a short time before, but after being chased through Laxfield Court on the Regent Estate off Pownall Road, London Fields, they managed to escape unharmed.

Over the course of the trial, which is expected to last three weeks, jurors must decide whether Pateco-Te was part of the group that travelled in the van and whether he was part of the group that killed Aslan.