Number 40 bus. Pic: AndrewHA

A man who had been shot in the head in a dispute with a Croydon man flagged down a bus which took him to hospital, the Old Bailey told.

The bus driver, whose route took him past King’s College Hospital in Denmark Hill stopped to let Richard Kwakye, 20, off outside the casualty department.

Richard Kwakye

Kwakye survived but the incident had made him “mortal enemies” with Rilwan Bankole, from Thornton Heath, the man now accused of shooting him.

“He was bleeding from a wound to his head and was evidently in considerable pain,” said Oliver Glasgow, prosecuting.

“To the shock and amazement of the triage nurses, this man explained that he had just been shot in the head and had caught a bus to the hospital. He was rushed into theatre where the surgeons who operated upon him duly removed a bullet from his brain.”

Bankole, 31, denies attempting to murder Kwakye, from Twickenham in October 2003.

Glasgow said Kwakye, who was 20 at the time, had refused to tell police who shot him until six years later.

He said he had been driven to Goose Green park in Peckham where he alleged Bankole pointed the gun at his head and shot him as they sat in a car as fireworks were set off.

Bankole, who was said to have suspected his former friend of stealing his property, later told police Kwakye had lied about who shot him because the two were involved in a custody battle over a child.

But the “seven years of hatred” had led to more serious matters, said Glasgow.

Kwakye was convicted last week of the murder of Bankole’s 19-month-old daughter Siariah Letang in an arson attack at the home of her mother in Camberwell in September last year.

Kwakye was jailed for life for the toddler’s murder and given a minimum term of 35 years, the court heard.

The trial continues.