Whetstone: Armed robbers convicted of drug dealer’s death

A gang of armed robbers have been convicted of the death of a drug dealer who was stabbed in his bed for his “ill-gotten gains”.

Olsi Kuka, 30, was attacked by a heavily armed group in the middle of the night on 11 May 2022 at his home in Whetstone, north London.

After a trial at the Old Bailey, Santana Thompson, 21, and Daige Ramsey, 25, were found guilty of manslaughter.

At an earlier trial their accomplice, Reuban Bernard, was found guilty of murder, having committed the fatal stabbing.

Prosecutor Edward Brown KC told the trial: “The evidence shows that the object of the attack was a robbery of a drug dealer – of his drugs and/or his money, no doubt derived from drug dealing.

“The victim had been stabbed seven times and had three other knife wounds on her body,” he said.

He added: “Olsi Kuka was robbed and killed for his ill-gotten gains so the team could use the drugs and money.

“What is clear is that this was a planned attack and each man was playing his part, knowing what was going to happen and what it might take in a robbery of a drug dealer.”

Several knives and a BB gun were transported to the scene, leaving one man dead and another injured, he said.

The “organizer” of the attack, Orzan Seran, also pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Olsi Kuka and the unlawful wounding of his cousin, Alush Kuka.

The defendants in the current trial, Santana Thompson and Daige Ramsey, were also convicted in the earlier trial of conspiracy to rob, along with Bernard and Seran.

The court heard that another defendant, Bulent Bakir from Enfield, was convicted of conspiracy to rob.

The trial heard that he was not at the address like the others, but had chased off part of the robbery team on site and again and was “an essential element of the enterprise”.

Thompson and Ramsey, both from Waltham Forest, were also found guilty of unlawfully wounding Alush Kuka at the trial.

Sentencing was postponed until a later date.