Latest news with #Kashti
The Guardian
06-04-2025
- The Guardian
‘I thought: this is it. I'm going to die': Music producer Itay Kashti on his kidnapping ordeal
As he lay on the floor of a remote Welsh cottage, having been battered by a gang of masked kidnappers and handcuffed to a radiator pipe, musician and record producer Itay Kashti was heartbroken to imagine he would never see his family again. 'I thought: 'This is it. I'm going to die and this is the end of my story.' I felt it was the final scene from a movie. I was thinking about my children.' He had a few moments to puzzle over why he was the victim in this story. He isn't a very wealthy man and is not a high-profile figure. He wondered if it might be his roots in Israel. 'I thought maybe I had been targeted for my background and somebody had decided to abduct an Israeli to make a point or gain something. But I really didn't know.' The bizarre and disturbing details of Kashti's ordeal were laid bare at a sentencing hearing at Swansea crown court when his three attackers – Faiz Shah, 22, Mohammad Comrie, 22, and Elijah Ogunnubi-Sime, 20 – were imprisoned for eight years for kidnap. Believing they could make a million-pound ransom, the trio lured Kashti from his London base to the rented cottage in Carmarthenshire. They beat him, threatened to kill him and secured him to the pipe, but Kashti managed to wriggle free and call for help. Judge Catherine Richards, who sentenced the men, from West Yorkshire and south London, ruled they had twin motives. They had targeted an 'innocent' and 'hard-working' man for his perceived wealth but there may also have been a political angle and he had been picked on because of his 'Jewish heritage'. The judge said, as the three plotted the kidnap, they persuaded themselves that Kashti was 'less worthy' of their respect and compassion. Kashti, 45, who immigrated to the UK from Israel in 2007, said: 'I was stigmatised and dehumanised. The assumption was that a rich Jew lives in London, works in music, he must have money.' Speaking to the Guardian in his studio in north London surrounded by guitars and amplifiers, Kashti spoke carefully and quietly: 'I live a peaceful life and I'm not a political person. There was no reason to go for a person like myself.' Nine months on, he is still trying to recover his sense of security. He cycles or takes the tube to his studio from his east London home but he is not completely at ease. 'We all have a safety bubble. And that safety bubble has been burst for me. I'm more conscious of trouble that could emerge, danger that could happen, unpredictable scenarios that could pop out. When new people reach out, I have to be a bit more vigilant. I guess it's going to take me some time until I feel fully settled.' Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion The ordeal began last summer when he received an email from someone claiming to be from a major record company, inviting him to a song-writing camp in Wales. 'It sounded nice, I showed this to my wife, she said it looked cool. 'They sounded a little bit green but they didn't sound suspicious in any way, especially if you're not in a paranoid state of mind. The arrangement was that they would send a car to pick me up. They did mention that I didn't have to bring anything but I took my Martin acoustic [a beloved guitar].' When he walked into the cottage, he sensed 'something eerie, not quite right. As I stepped in towards one of the bedrooms, three guys, all masked, jumped at me and started hitting and kicking me on the head,' he said. 'They said they were going to kill me and they chained me, handcuffed me to a pipe that came out of the radiator. I was bleeding, shocked.' Then, suddenly, there was silence. Kashti later found out that the kidnappers had panicked and fled. He managed to unhook himself from the pipe, grabbed his phone and his guitar. He pointed to the blood stains still visible on the guitar case. 'I didn't want to leave the guitar. I dragged it along.' Outside, he phoned his wife and police. 'I was hiding behind some bushes. The police were there fairly quickly, in about 15 to 20 minutes.' Kashti said his eyes were so badly bruised and swollen that he looked like Sylvester Stallone's boxer character, Rocky Balboa, after a brutal fight. 'The left eye was completely swollen. It was closed.' He said doctors in Wales and at the Moorfields Eye hospital in north London did an excellent job to help his physical rehabilitation. His emotional recovery has taken longer. 'It took me a few weeks to land back to reality. Most people didn't know about what I'd been through and that separated me from everyone. You can't just break it in a conversation and move on. It's going to take a lot of time, and I don't know what's waiting for me, but I'm trying not to dwell.' Kashti has appeared in a couple of videos as a musician, one about the legal system in Israel and another expressing solidarity with Israeli hostages taken during Hamas's 2023 attack on Israel. But he said there was nothing that should have made him a target. He said he was not angry with the attackers. 'I hope that the jail experience will turn them into better people. If they do turn into better people, then it was worth locking them up.'
Sky News
15-03-2025
- Sky News
'It felt like my own personal October the 7th': Gang jailed for kidnapping Jewish-Israeli music producer
A Jewish-Israeli music producer said he felt like he experienced his own "personal October 7" when he was kidnapped by a gang in West Wales and held captive. Faiz Shah, 23, from Leeds, Mohammad Comrie, 23, from Bradford, and Elijah Ogunnubi-Sime, 20, from Wallington, were jailed at Swansea Crown Court on Friday. The court heard they had lured Itay Kashti to a remote property in the Brynteg area of Llanybydder on 26 August, posing as representatives from a reputable music production company and inviting him to a music workshop. During sentencing, Judge Catherine Richards said the planning was "significant and highly sophisticated", targeting an "entirely innocent, hard-working music producer" based on the gang's understanding of his wealth and his Jewish heritage. The group - who all pleaded guilty to kidnap - each received a sentence of eight years and one month. The court heard they meticulously plotted the attack on a Telegram group chat. They used false identities to rent out a cottage and organised a taxi to transport Mr Kashti to Wales from his London home. When the taxi arrived, Mr Kashti was immediately attacked by the three masked men, suffering bruising and extensive facial injuries. Messages recovered from the defendants show they planned to incapacitate the victim with ketamine, while an imitation pistol was found at the scene. Mr Kashti was able to slip the chains from the radiator pipe and flee the property, later alerting the police. Officers found the three defendants hiding in nearby fields. Craig Jones, for the prosecution, said messages exchanged between the defendants referred to Mr Kashti having been on "pro-Israeli marches". They also made allegations about "Palestinian land" and said they had "no remorse" for what they were going to do. In a statement, Mr Kashti told the court: "As an Israeli, this incident felt like my own personal October the 7th. "I was kicked to the head several times, handcuffed to a radiator and forced to lie down on the floor. I was threatened and told if I were to try and escape, I'd be killed. "The awful attack of 7th of October was flashing through my mind as I lay restrained on the floor in handcuffs." Planning for the kidnap included the defendants using stolen identities and financial documents, multiple mobile phones, the development of escape routes and processes to launder any money extorted from the victim. The judge told them: "It seems to me that you justified your actions against the victim based on his background, as if he was less worthy of your respect and compassion. That is utterly abhorrent. "I have no doubt that the victim was targeted due to his Jewish heritage." Inspector Gareth Jones, of Dyfed-Powys Police, described the "harrowing" impact of the crime on the victim and his family. "This sentence today reflects the severity of this offence and the ordeal the victim suffered - and we hope it gives the victim a sense of justice," he said.
BBC News
14-03-2025
- BBC News
Trio locked up for Israeli record producer kidnap ambush
Three men lured a record producer to an isolated cottage in a botched kidnap attempt due to his Israeli heritage, a court kidnappers were motivated by political and religious reasons, as well as money, when they posed as representatives of Polydor Records to target Itay Kashti, Swansea Crown Court Kashti said the attack on him, as an Israeli, felt like his "own personal October 7th", a reference to the large-scale attack launched by Hamas on Israel in Comrie, 23, from Leeds, Faiz Shah, 23, from Bradford, and Elijah Ogunnubi-Sime, 20, from Wallington, London, pleaded guilty to kidnap and each received a custodial sentence of eight years and one month. Shah and Comrie will both be jailed while Ogunnubi-Sime was sent to a young offender trio created a "shopping list" of items for the kidnap plot, including face masks, gloves, a gag, rental cars and a suitable rental location for the kidnap to take 14 August 2024, Mr Kashti was emailed by a man calling himself Lucas Winslow and claiming to work for Polydor, inviting him to a "music recording camp" in rural Wales. Prosecutor Craig Jones told the court it was the start of "careful and elaborate" plan which was discussed in "minute detail" by Comrie, Shah and Ogunnubi-Sime over the Telegram messaging Jones said the ultimate aim was "the kidnap of the complainant".Handcuffs and cable ties were taken to the cottage in Brynteg, Ceredigion, by the three men, who also tried to source ketamine to drug their victim. The three men hoped to extort money from Mr Kashti "who they perceived to be a wealthy individual", but Mr Jones said there was "clear political and religious motivation" because of his nationality. In one conversation it was said: "All three of us have complete 100% faith in Allah so we can't fail."Cryptocurrency arrangements were also discussed in order to launder the funds obtained during the kidnap and potential escape routes were original property chosen was booked, so the defendants decided to rent the Gatehouse for a week with an online booking made in the name of a stolen identity. The three had also fraudulently obtained stolen bank details. A taxi was booked on 26 August to collect Mr Kashti from his London home using a mobile phone registered to an unknown third party that was found in the the taxi operator and driver Mohammad Amowar were "innocent parties and as much duped as the complainant". On arrival at the property, Mr Kashti and Mr Amowar realised they had walked into a "well laid trap." and were attacked Kashti was attacked by the three wearing "anonymous-style" face masks while Mr Amowar was hit in the face but managed to escape through the front Kashti was punched and kicked, suffering injuries to his face and head, and handcuffed to a radiator before being told he "would be killed" if he tried to the record producer managed to free himself by lifting his hands "up and off the pipe" and ran out of the property, still wearing the hid in nearby bushes and phoned his wife, who called the police, as did Mr Kashti suffered swollen and bruised eyelids, a swollen nose and bruising to his back, knees and leg and a cut to the kidnappers fled but were found by police that evening hiding in a nearby field, while a search of the house uncovered an air pistol and hiding, Ogunnubi-Sime was in contact with an unknown individual who he tried to "direct" so he could be "transported away".In a victim impact statement, Mr Kashti said he felt "shock and fear" and was thinking of his Jewish ancestors who had experienced the Holocaust. He said he suffered from anxiety and now "felt uncomfortable and unsafe".Balbir Singh, representing Shah, admitted the plot was "not very well planned and went wrong immediately" but his client felt "regret and remorse". Roderick Jones representing Comrie admitted the plot had been "highly amateurish in its execution" and he felt "genuine remorse". Waheed Barber said Ogunnubi-Sime was a "good, generous individual" and he was a "redeemable character".Michael Cray of the Crown Prosecution Service said: "This must have been truly terrifying for the two victims, who had no idea they were walking into a trap."We would like to thank them for supporting this prosecution and hope the fact these offenders have been brought to justice will help them move forward with their lives."
