Drive-by shooter jailed for 32 years for attempting to kill foe outside Leeds burger bar

Patson Mafaune initially put the pistol to the man’s head and pulled the trigger when he sat behind him in a car, but the trigger jammed.

After the terrified man fled, 23-year-old Mafaune then drove past him pulling the trigger and firing shots towards him, but luckily missed.

The shooting took place near to Mr T’s restaurant on Burley Road on the afternoon of July 25 last year.

Mafaune was found guilty of attempted murder after a week-long trial at Leeds Crown Court in January. He was also found guilty of possession of a firearm with an intent to endanger life.

Today, Judge Tom Bayliss KC gave Mafaune an extended 32-year sentence, made up of a 27-year custodial part, and a five-year extended licence period.

He said the sentence should serve as a warning to anyone who uses a gun in Leeds.

He told Mafaune: “I’m quite sure it was to be an ambush. You took with you a gun. It was very determined and organised.

“There were other members of the public on the street. They were present when the firearm was discharged.

“It was summer time, it was daylight and it was a suburban area of Leeds.

“I’m afraid I’ve reached the conclusion you are a highly dangerous man.”

During the trial it was heard that the victim had been unhappy after Mafaune’s brother had crashed an Audi belonging to him and owed him money as a result.

The man went to Mafaune’s house on July 24 last year, saying he wanted to discuss the debt. He was soon arrested on suspicion of threatening behaviour towards Mafaune’s mother, but later released without charge.

Mafaune and the man then agreed to meet around teatime the next day at Mr T’s burger restaurant to discuss the matter.

Mafaune, armed with the pistol, got into the man’s Astra when they arrived, then pulled it from his bag, held it to the man’s head, and pulled the trigger repeatedly.

Realising what was happening, the man dived out of the driver’s side of the Astra. Footage from the street captured the victim shouting to his friend: “He pointed it at my f****** head bro.”

After a brief stand-off in which a shot was fired from a distance away, Mafaune got back into his white Seat and drove off, with the victim seen to hurl a brick towards the car, but missing.

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The Seat reappeared on the CCTV moments later and two more shots could be heard from the vehicle as the victim cowered behind parked cars.

Mafaune then lost control and smashed into two parked cars, forcing him to abandon his car and flee on foot. The gun was never found.

Mafaune, of Servia Drive, Little London, claimed throughout the trial that he intended to show the gun to the man only, to warn him to stay away from his family.

He then said when the situation escalated he wanted to show him he was “being serious”.

He claimed he was firing the gun at the man’s Astra and not towards the man himself, who was stood on the other side of the street to the Astra.

Mitigating, Soheil Khan added: “His behaviour was a hugh overreaction and he accepts that.”

The jury did not believe Mafaune’s account and took less than three hours to return guilty verdicts.