Olympic cyclist mark cavendish He and his wife Peta were “terrorised in their own home” by knife-armed assailants wearing balaclava, a court has been told.
Two Richard Mille watches worth £400,000 and £300,000 were among the items taken from his home. ongar, essexOn 27th November 2021 at around 2.30 PM.
Mrs. Cavendish told Chelmsford Crown Court One of the assailants held a Rambo-style knife to her husband’s neck and threatened to stab him.
Romario Henry, 31, Bell Green, Lewisham, South East Londonand Oludewa Okorosobo, 28, of Flaxman Road, Camberwell, south London, denied two counts of robbery and is facing trial.
He is accused of robbing a watch, phone and safe from Cavendish, and a watch, phone and Louis Vuitton suitcase from the athlete’s wife.
Ali Cese, 28, of Holding Street, Rainham, Kent, admitted two counts of robbery at an earlier hearing, with tests saying his DNA was found on Mrs Cavendish’s phone, which was taken and found outside the house.
Two other men, Joe Jobson, from Plistowe, east London, and George Goddard, from Loughton in Essex, have been named as suspects but have not been caught.
In his closing remarks on Wednesday, prosecutor Edward Renvois said the case was “quite simply about a family being terrorized in their own home”.
He added that the intruders “appeared not to have gotten the watch they wanted” but that they “got away with what they could”.
He said it was for the jurors to decide whether the defendants were involved.
Mr Renvoise said the “professionalism of the job is beyond question” and cast doubt on Okorosobo’s claim that he was not with his phone that night when he was connecting to cell masts in the area.
Okorosobo gave evidence that he was not at the Olympian’s house, but had lent Sesse his phone so he could use a navigation app.
“Is it really conceivable that, in order to find his way to the property, Mr. Sesay had to borrow Mr. Okorosobo’s telephone to use the Waze app?” Mr. Renvoise asked.
He also questioned whether Sesay “would agree to take Mr. Henry along for the ride”.
Henry claimed in evidence that he had been in a Mercedes car that had gone to the Cavendish address on the night of the raid but was “out of it”.
He told jurors: “I was messing up a lot.
“That was the effect these drugs had on me that day.”
Henry stated that he was unaware of the plan to rob the Cavendish and was not involved in the robbery.
Shahid Rasheed for Okorosobo drew attention to the leg injury suffered by Okorosobo in September 2021 in his closing speech.
Referring to CCTV footage of the four men coming towards the Cavendish house, Rashid said: “None of them walk the way he (Okorosobo) walked. None of them have any injuries whatsoever.” He displays and no one has the handicap that he is suffering from.
The trial continues, with Henry’s barrister due to make his closing speech later on Wednesday as the judge presents evidence to jurors.