This article is more than 9 months old

This article is more than 9 months old

A child was hunted down by a drug gang who rammed him to the ground with a car before butchering him with three knives and leaving him to bleed to death in the street, a jury has heard.

Jaden Moodie, 14, who was a dealer for a rival gang, was riding a moped in January 2019 in London when he was knocked off it and set upon. He suffered catastrophic injuries from nine stab wounds inflicted in seven seconds as he lay defenceless in the road.

Ayoub Majdouline, 19, denies the murder on 8 January this year in London and denies a charge of carrying a knife.

A jury at the Old Bailey heard Oliver Glasgow QC open the prosecution and say that Majdouline and four accomplices staged the attack and were driving a stolen black Mercedes car.

They were from a rival gang to the gang Moodie was connected to and dealt drugs for, the court heard.

Glasgow said: “This defendant was part of an armed group that went looking for a rival and, once they found him, the group chased down their target, the group produced their weapons and the group butchered him.”

Glasgow told the jury: “On finding Jaden Moodie, the Mercedes drove straight towards the moped, swerving into the same side of the road so that it struck Jaden Moodie head on.”

He said Moodie went headfirst on to the car and his helmet flew off. CCTV footage of the incident was shown in court.

As the footage was shown there were groans in court from where the murdered teenager’s family and friends were sitting and at least one person rushed out in distress.

“Fourteen seconds is all it took and Jaden did not stand a chance,” Glasgow told the jury.

He told the court that those inside the car, including Majdouline, rushed out: “Both the defendant and his accomplice had their hands and faces covered and each of them was carrying a knife.”

He added: “Three of the males who got out of the Mercedes ran up to Jaden Moodie, who was lying defenceless and seriously injured on the ground. Rather than help him, the three males embarked upon a violent and frenzied attack, repeatedly stabbing him with knives that they must have armed themselves with for the purpose of attacking him.”

Majdouline was wearing yellow rubber gloves as the attack unfolded, the court was told. Glasgow said: “The rear-seat passenger reached Jaden Moodie first and immediately began to stab and kick him. When the defendant caught up, only a few seconds later, he, too, stabbed Jaden Moodie several times with a large knife.”

More people then joined the attack, the jury heard.

Glasgow said Majdouline and his accomplices were “young men who have no qualms about carrying and using deadly weapons to kill, young men who have no qualms about attacking their victim on a public street, and young men who have no qualms about playing out their petty rivalries using the blade of a knife”.

Glasgow said the attack was rapid: “Jaden Moodie had been stabbed nine times … The damage was catastrophic and Jaden Moodie slowly bled to death in the road.”

The jury was told one stab wound created a “groove” in the teenager’s bone, and that his lung and liver was punctured.

The jury also heard that forensic evidence tied Majdouline to the murder and that yellow rubber gloves were recovered containing DNA from Moodie and Majdouline, his alleged attacker.

Glasgow said: “There is nothing that this defendant can say to excuse the murderous attack upon Jaden Moodie. His attackers chose to go out in search for him, at least three of them were armed, all of them had covered their faces.”

On 7 January, the day before the attack, the prosecution claimed Majdouline returned to London after spending some days in eastern England.

The jury was told the defendant denies being in the car at the time of the attack and denies the prosecution’s claims that the gloves and other evidence tie him to the murder scene.

The trial continues.