A teenager accused of taking part in the shooting of a five year-old girl in a botched gang attack has told a court he felt “remorseful”.
Anthony McCalla, 19, from Streatham, admits he was with the gunman when at least two shots were fired into the Stockwell Food and Wine shop on March 29 last year.
One bullet left little Thusha Kamaleswaran paralysed for life while another hit 35-year-old Roshan Selvakumar in the face.
It is claimed the real target was Shaun Bryan, a member of the ABM - or All 'Bout Money - gang, and the three attackers were from the rival Brixton-based GAS gang.
But giving evidence at the Old Bailey on Monday, McCalla told jurors he thought they were going to rob a drug dealer of 1kg of cannabis.
He said: “I'm a cannabis user and I was broke, I had no money. I would have smoked some and tried to sell some.”
As they cycled down the road the other two men – who when asked refused to name as his co-defendants Nathaniel Grant, 21, and Kazeem Kolawole, 19 - started chasing a man they believed to be the drug dealer.
McCalla said he saw them turn left on to Stockwell Road and then heard 'something like a gunshot'.
He said: “My instant reaction was to ride off. I thought the noise might have been a Ribena carton squashing. But as I was riding back towards him another shot goes off.
“I hadn't seen what had happened in the shop. I felt remorseful. I didn't see anyone actually get hit.”
Mr McCalla, of Oakdale Road; Grant, of Camberwell New Road, and Mr Kolawole, of Black Prince Road, are charged with the attempted murder, wounding with intent and possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life. They deny the charges.
The trial continues.
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