Three men cleared of Harrow Road KFC shooting murder

Three gang members accused of shooting dead an innocent man in a botched revenge attack have been cleared of murder.

Kervin Kavuala, 27, of South Kilburn, was said to have carried out the hit on 22-year-old Daniel Smith to avenge the death of his brother Tyno.

Mr Smith was shot in the chest as he went left KFC in Harrow Road in the early hours of November 22, 2010.

Tyno was shot dead three years earlier as he sat in his car in Scrubs lane, Harlesden, on March 4, 2007.

Prosecutors argued that Mr Smith was targeted as he bore a ‘striking resemblance’ to Stacey Theophane, a rival gang member believed to be responsible for the death of Tyno.

The gang is locked in a bitter rivalry with the Family About Cash gang, based around the estates of south and west Kilburn, and to which the four accused were said to have belonged.

Jurors heard how a YouTube video was posted online with Mr Kavuala pointing to a tattoo of his dead brother while another person raps: “This all started when my brother died...it won’t end till I see another homicide.”

During the trial, Mr Kavuala claimed the shooting could not have been a revenge attack as he had always believed that the police had killed his brother.

Prosecutors were unable to identify who had fired the fatal shot and jurors at the Old Bailey cleared Kavuala, along with Zeleke Forde, 30, of Watford and Shane Lewis, 32, of Harlesden, of murder after just 55 minutes’ deliberation on Wednesday.

A fourth man, 25-year-old Jonathan Yeboah, was cleared of firearms charges. All four denied the charges.