Kirk Richards on trial for attempted murder of West Norwood barber

Kirk Richards, 35, of Brixton, is accused of walking into the Magic Touch barber shop in Norwood High Street with up to three other men on October 21 last year and firing three shots into the chest, arm, and back of barber Norman Smith.

The boy in the chair was terrified as bullets richocheted around the shop, while other customers dived for cover, the Old Bailey heard last week.

Prosecutor Peter Clement told the jury that only “good fortune” had stopped multiple people being injured or killed, and Mr Smith only survived after emergency surgery.

Mr Richards resolved to shoot Mr Smith, 37, also known as Andrew or Andre, because of his involvement in a love triangle with his wife Jamillah Swaby, of Laddas Road, West Norwood, the court was told.

He was coping very badly with his break up the previous year with Ms Swaby, the mother of his two children, aged two and five.

The estranged husband had found out about her relationship with Mr Smith only weeks before, the jury was told.

Mr Richards denies attempted murder and possession of a firearm to endanger life but admits to being outside the barber shop when the shooting occurred.

He told police under interview he had been on the way there because he had heard his wife and children were inside, when he saw three men go in and what he thought sounded like “an explosion”.

He told police after his arrest on November last year he was having “a war” with Mr Smith over his wife and an altercation had occurred between the two men on the pavement outside the barber shop earlier on the day of the shooting.

Mr Richards told the court on Tuesday: “I told him can you just give me a break and leave my wife and kids alone.”

He claimed Mr Smith “cussed” him and made a call to someone, saying; “bring my gun up.”

Mr Richards said he then threw a stone at the barber.

“We were having a bit of a fight but I didn’t shoot him at all,” he said.

The trial continues.