A woman whose husband was shot dead in front of her and their two-year-old son has denied he was involved in drug trafficking for a Swedish organised crime group.
Prosecutors claim Flamur Beqiri, 36, the brother of a reality television star, was murdered outside his home in Battersea, on Christmas Eve in 2019 as part of escalating violence between two rival networks.
His wife, Debora Krasniqi, can be heard screaming and cradling her son on dramatic CCTV footage of the shooting moments after they arrived hand-in-hand with the victim.
She told Southwark Crown Court on Tuesday she did not know what was going on until “after he (Mr Beqiri) dropped on the floor”.
Their three-month old baby and the children’s three grandparents were inside as Mr Beqiri – whose sister Misse Beqiri, 35, appeared in reality television show The Real Housewives Of Cheshire – was hit by eight bullets as he was shot at 10 times, Southwark Crown Court has heard.
Alleged shooter Anis Hemissi, 24, is said to have donned disguises, including latex masks and a litter picker’s outfit, to carry out reconnaissance in the days before the murder.
His barrister Abbas Lakha QC asked Ms Krasniqi on Tuesday: “The prosecution in this case suggest your husband was involved in drug trafficking. Did you know that?”
“I didn’t know that,” replied Ms Krasniqi, who said she had met her husband in the Netherlands, where he was working in the music industry.
Mr Lakha said: “It is the prosecution suggestion that he was part of and organised crime group in Sweden involved in large scale importation and supply of drugs. Is that true?”
Ms Krasniqi, who has lived in the capital for most of her life, said: “No.”
The court heard the couple had borrowed £750,000 for their three-floor home, with a £950,000 down payment, and also rented a property in Dubai.
Ms Krasniqi told police her husband had been “very stressed” in the period before he was shot because he had invested their life savings into a Swedish bank through a broker who turned out to be a fraudster.
Mr Lakha said: “Did you believe that had something to do with your husband’s death?”
She replied: “I didn’t believe anything. I just explained why I believed he was stressed.”
Ms Krasniqi told the QC her husband did not have any enemies to her knowledge.
He asked: “You told police your husband was very particular about the way he sat in a restaurant, for instance.
“On this particular night, you had gone into the restaurant, sat at a table, then taken a photo and sent it to him. Was there a reason?”
She told jurors: “No, he was just that type of person. He was picky about things.”
Hemissi, who flew into London on December 20 and left the country for Copenhagen, Denmark, in the early hours of Christmas Day, was allegedly part of a team of four killers from Sweden.
They are alleged to have planned Swedish/Albanian national Mr Beqiri’s killing for around six months, hiring locals to clean up once they had returned home.
Hemissi denies murder and possession of a self-loading pistol. Swedish nationals Estevan Pino-Munizaga, 35, Tobias Fredrik Andersson, 32, and Bawer Karaer, 23, who are alleged to have been sent to assist Hemissi, also deny murder.
UK national Clifford Rollox, 31, of Islington, north London, and Dutch national Claude Isaac Castor, 21, from Sint Maarten in the Caribbean but resident in the UK, deny perverting the course of justice.
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