A court has heard that the £1.38 million Richmond robbery was staged. The accused claim everyone involved consented, including the store manager who tragically took his own life.
Richmond: So, there was this wild case about a robbery in a jewellery store. They say watches worth £1.38 million were stolen, but get this—it was all staged.
Two guys, Junior Kunu and Mannix Pedro, are in hot water for allegedly planning this whole thing. They took over 70 luxury watches from the 247 Kettles shop last May.
Sadly, the store manager, Oliver White, died by suicide the next day. The court heard he was really affected by the whole incident.
Kunu, the accused, kept saying in court, “This was not a robbery, this was staged.” He claimed he was promised £5,000 just to help put the watches in a bag.
He insisted everyone was on board with the plan. Kunu said he knew the store manager would comply and wouldn’t press any panic buttons.
He even mentioned that if it were a real robbery, White would have fought back or called for help. But he didn’t, which Kunu took as a sign that it was all fake.
There were two other guys involved, but they’ve skipped town. Kunu said everything went according to plan, just like he was told it would.
He described how they walked out calmly, no running or anything. If it was a real robbery, he thought they would have bolted for a getaway car.
During the trial, Kunu said he was contacted by someone named “Mr. X” who asked him to join in. He didn’t want to name this person, saying he was worried for his safety.
He admitted he was struggling financially and felt naive for getting involved. Kunu said he was told everyone was consenting, and nothing bad would happen.
While he accepted he might have been part of a conspiracy, he also agreed that violence could have been a possibility. The court heard that none of the stolen watches have been found.
The trial is still ongoing, and it’s a pretty heavy situation all around.
