Thusha Kamaleswaran

A five-year-old girl was “happily playing” in a shop when she was hit by gang gunfire and left paralysed for life, a court heard today.

Thusha Kamaleswaran died twice as medics battled to save her life following the shooting at Stockwell Food and Wine in south London in March last year.

She was one of three victims of the attack, for which two teenagers and a 21-year-old are standing trial at the Old Bailey.

Three men with their faces partially covered “circled” on bikes outside the shop, before one opened fire with a handgun.

They were searching for rival gang members but hit “two completely innocent bystanders”, prosecutor Edward Brown QC said.

A bullet passed through Thusha’s body and an emergency team had to carry out “invasive surgery” at the scene to restart her heart, jurors heard.

The little girl went into cardiac arrest for a second time at King’s College Hospital but was again saved by emergency surgery.

However, her injuries caused paralysis and she will never walk again.

A 35-year-old shopper was also hit during the shooting and has bullet fragments permanently lodged in his head.

The three defendants are accused of acting together in staging the attack.

They also face charges of the attempted murder of another man, Roshaun Bryan, who the prosecution say was the intended victim that day, and possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.

Mr Brown told the jury that the shooting bore “all the hallmarks” of gang rivalry, animosity that “on occasion leads to needless but very serious violence.”

The three defendants are accused of being part of the GAS or OC gang, based in Brixton, which has an ongoing rivalry with another gang called ABM.

They were on a “mission” to find a rival gang member on the day of the shooting, jurors were told.

Mr Brown said: “The three were beyond doubt working as a team, each with a shared intention, one encouraging the other.

“The reality of this shooting may be that, whilst there was an intention to kill the suspected rival gang member, the gunman and his accomplices couldn’t have cared less if someone else was shot too.”

Kazeem Kolawole, 19, Anthony McCalla, 19, and Nathaniel Grant, 21, deny causing GBH with intent to Thusha and the shopper Roshan Selvakumar.