Two men have been found guilty of robbing a fashion designer of his £137,000 Richard Mille watch after it was cut from his wrist outside a Mayfair restaurant.
Ali Eldahouzze, 22, and Abdel El Habchi, 30, were part of a plot to target Romanian entrepreneur Catalin Botezatu as he left a restaurant in London’s exclusive Berkeley Square in central London.
Mr Botezatu described how he was pushed and confronted by the thieves.
He told Southwark Crown Court: “I feared for my life.”
The lead robber, Younes Djoudi, pleaded guilty before trial, and Eldahouzze and El Habchi both claimed to jurors that they had no idea that the robbery was about to take place, and were in fear of reprisals from Djoudi.
open image in galleryA jury convicted them both on the robbery charge, at the end of a nine-day trial.
All three men are now remanded in custody until sentencing on October 16.
The trial heard how Mr Botezatu was accosted after he left Latin American restaurant Amazonico in Berkeley Square just before midnight on January 28.
Prosecutor Arizuna Asante said Mr Botezatu was smoking with a friend near to his car when the robbers approached.
“The three males surrounded Mr Botezatu and robbed him of his watch by wresting it from his left wrist,” he said.
“It is believed a knife was used to cut through the rubber strap because the victim had cuts on his wrists after the watch was taken.”
open image in galleryGiving evidence from behind a screen, Mr Botezatu, from Bucharest, said he was pushed into the fence and then restrained.
“The man in the middle had a sharp instrument, I don’t know what, and he cut me. He cut the watch strap as well.”
He told the court: “I couldn’t believe that something like this could happen in London, in front of a luxury restaurant where I was a client.
“I feared for my life because of my cancer operation and because I have five stents and because the slightest blow or cut, God forbid, where I was operated, could have been fatal.”
The court was shown footage of the robbers watching him earlier in the evening as he stood in the smoking area of the restaurant.
The court heard Mr Botezatu was given the watch about 13 years ago by a friend.
“It had a lot of sentimental value, it came from a very good friend of mine who is unfortunately no longer with us and it was a birthday present,” he said.
El Habchi, a social media influencer in Morocco, told the court he did not realise the robbery was about to happen and claimed to have played no part in it.
Eldahouzze suggested Djoudi had threatened to “set me on fire” if he did not snatch the watch, but he still said he refused.
Police later found incriminating messages on Eldahouzze’s phone, including a picture of the stolen watch.