Three men have been found guilty of committing a robbery against the brothers of Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold and Manchester United's Marcus Rashford, and three others, in 2019.
Tariq Dervan, 22, Romario Harmer, 21, and Talleko Lemonious, 28, were found guilty of five counts of robbery, possession of a bladed article (machete), possession of a firearm at the time of committing an offence (sawn off shotgun) and possession of an offensive weapon (baseball bat) following a trial at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court.
The jury found Dervan and Harmer unanimously guilty, and Lemonious guilty by a 10-2 majority.
Advert
As per the Liverpool Echo, the court read out statements from Tyler Alexander-Arnold, Dane Rashford and the three other victims.
The court heard that three masked men, armed with a sawn-off shotgun and baseball bat, carried out the robbery at Little Rock cafe in Moss Side, Manchester on Saturday, January 12, 2019. They stole a £70,000 Range Rover and jewellery.
Mr Alexander-Arnold, Mr Rashford and three friends, who were having breakfast at the cafe, were attacked by the men, who hit them with a baseball bat with such force that the handle broke off.
Mr Alexander-Arnold was hit on the left side of the head by the bat, while Mr Rashford said he 'felt a hit to the top of his head', and, as per the Daily Mirror, 'feared for his life' when one of the attackers pointed a shotgun at him, which led to him handing over the keys to his car.
Advert
The group of five were told to hand over their watches, with Mr Rashford handing over a £22,000 Rolex, while Mr Alexander-Arnold, who was not wearing a watch, handed over his wallet and the keys to his £70,000 Range Rover.
Sentencing will take place on March 20.
CPS release statement following trial
Speaking after the trial, Carl Miles, a Senior Crown Prosecutor for CPS North West, said in a statement: "Talleko Lemonius, Tariq Dervan and Romario Harmer carried out a terrifying armed robbery at a cafe in broad daylight.
Advert
"In their greed, they showed utter disregard for the impact on their targeted victims and other customers and staff in the cafe, who genuinely feared for their lives, and were not afraid to use violence to get what they wanted.
"We worked closely with the police to build a strong case against them, including DNA and CCTV evidence, which we presented to the jury. After careful consideration of this evidence the jury found all three men guilty of all the offences they faced."
Featured Image Credit: AlamyTopics: Liverpool, Manchester United, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Marcus Rashford