THE MAN gunned down in the street by Audi shooter Zain Shah told jurors that he had armed himself with a crowbar and approached gunman’s car to get the first blow in.

Giving evidence from behind a screen at Oxford Crown Court on Tuesday afternoon, Waris Kayani said he had made the first move for his ‘safety’.

“[I thought] he was going to start fighting as well. I didn’t think he was going to pull out a gun,” he said.

Prosecutors accuse Shah, 22, of attempting to murder Mr Kayani in St Mildred’s Avenue, Luton, on September 23 last year. Shah admits firing the gun and intending to wound the man but denies attempted murder.

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The incident is said to have followed a dispute that had its seeds three days earlier in words exchanged between others.  

On the day of the shooting there was allegedly ‘tit for tat’ damage of cars belonging to a number of people. Shah’s Vauxhall Insignia was said to have been one of the cars damaged, while an Astra belonging to a friend of Mr Kayani was ‘rammed’, it was suggested.

Cross-examined by the defendant’s barrister Ashraf Khan, Mr Kayani initially claimed not to have known about the events in the lead-up to his being shot in the head – and only knew about the ‘ramming’ of the Astra. He later admitted to having been told by friends about the background.

He candidly admitted to taking the crowbar for protection, but maintained that a ‘soft’ mallet was taken with him in order to try and fix the dented car.

“I’m here to tell the truth. The crowbar I was going to use it as a tool for my protection,” he said, countering earlier assertions to the police.

Accused of ‘lying’ in his earlier evidence, Mr Kayani mumbled: “Mmm hmm.”

Mr Khan quizzed: “What made you think you needed protection?” He replied: “I’m not too sure, to be honest with you man.”

That account later changed, when he admitted having heard about earlier events. “I heard about it from my friends, but I don’t want to mention it because I don’t want them to get involved.”

He acknowledged that ‘no one had mentioned’ the defendant in the context of the earlier tit-for-tat damage.

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“You still went up to his vehicle with a view to attacking him. There was no need for you to do that, was  there?”

No, he replied.

He remembered Shah’s Audi ‘busting a U’ turn as it past where he was crouching between cars in St Mildred’s Avenue. He told jurors he had thought he would ‘make a move first’.

Barry McElduff, prosecuting, asked: “Why did you think you needed to make a move first?” He answered: “For my safety.”

Shah, of St Winnifred’s Avenue, Luton, denies attempted murder. The trial continues.

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This story was written by Tom Seaward. He joined the team in 2021 as Oxfordshire's court and crime reporter.  

To get in touch with him email: Tom.Seaward@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter: @t_seaward