A man who saw his brother shot dead in the street told a court the gunman “looked pretty trained – like he was an army man”.

Ismail Zeneli yesterday gave evidence at the trial of Edmund Nela, accused of murdering Xhem Krasniqi.

Mr Zeneli was in a car with his brother and their nephew Kelmed Murataj when they saw Nela in Church Road, close to the junction of Selbourne Road, Hove.

He told the jury at Hove Crown Court they pulled over and got out of the vehicle at 11pm on May 18 last year and the 31-year-old Nela started shooting.


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Mr Zeneli used his hands to show how Nela was holding the gun.

Nela said he was going to kill them all, the court heard.

Explaining how he was “in shock” to see someone shooting at him, he added: “I did not expect someone in the middle of Brighton to point a gun at me.”

He hid behind a car as Nela ran off.

Mr Zeneli, who lives in the city, said he briefly chased Nela on foot before going over to his 32-year-old brother, who was prone on the floor.

“I was trying to be with him,” he said.

“People were telling me ‘talk to him’.

“But he would not talk anymore.

“There were many people there.”

Describing his brother, Mr Zeneli said they were close and spent most weekends together despite Mr Krasniqi and his wife and children living in Kent.

On the day of the shooting Mr Zeneli and Mr Krasniqi had watched football together on television.

Recalling this, he said: “He liked Chelsea, I liked Man U. We had dinner – like brothers.”

His nephew Mr Murataj was also cross-examined yesterday, having told jurors how Nela shot at him and his relatives as they pulled over to talk to him.

Simon Mayo, defending, said this was not true.

Mr Mayo, speaking directly to Mr Murataj, said they had gone looking for Nela.

“You deliberately went to Church Road to lay in wait for him,” he said.

He said they were waiting near Restaurant Forty-One, where Nela’s wife Victoria Gale worked.

“Edmund Nela was ambushed. You jumped out your car,” he added.

Nela, of no fixed abode, denies murder, two counts of attempted murder, one of possessing a firearm and one of possessing a firearm to cause fear of violence.

The trial continues.