A 19-year-old who shot and critically wounded a man in front of terrified witnesses says he was acting in self defence, a court heard.

Joshan Addison, 19, admits shooting Rhys Bryin, 22, with a shotgun outside Loxford General Store on August 8 last year, but says he did so to protect himself and his family.

He told Snaresbrook Crown Court yesterday that Mr Bryin felt “humiliated” after an incident five days earlier where he had accidentally stabbed himself in the head whilst threatening Mr Addison.

That argument, in Green Lane, Ilford, left Mr Addison feeling “terrified and paranoid” after friends warned him that Mr Bryin was seeking revenge, he told the jury.

He said: “I didn’t know him personally, but I was aware of him. I knew he went by the name TNT.

“I was sitting in a Jeep with my friends on Green Lane when Rhys pulled up in a car alongside us.

“Rhys knew one of the people I was with and they spoke but he didn’t like the way I was looking at him.

“He asked ‘who is this young kid?’ as in he was dissing me because I was younger than him.

“I asked him what his problem was and he pulled out a knife on me.

“I got scared so I got out and ran towards his car and kicked his door in so he couldn’t get out.

“His elbow hit the window and he ended up stabbing himself in the head.”

After this, Mr Addison, of Thornton Avenue, Ilford, said he heard through word of mouth that Mr Bryin felt “violated” and wanted to murder him.

He told the court: “He was asking people for my address. He said he was going to send shots at my house.”

Before the shooting, which occurred around 4.30pm on Loxford Lane, Mr Addison said he saw Mr Bryin about an hour and a half earlier, which caused him to panic.

He said: “Every time I was outside I was travelling in cars. I was scared.

“On August 8 [the day of the shooting], I was socialising with friends on the Oaktree estate, when I saw Rhys approach in a car with a friend.

“I ran away before he could see me, I was shocked to see him in the area, I thought he was there to do serious harm.”

Mr Addison told the court how he immediately called an older friend who delivered a shotgun and 13 rounds of ammunition to Loxford Lane.

He said: “I accepted the gun. I thought TNT [Mr Bryin] had a gun.

“The way he was dressed all in black, wearing gloves, a hat and a mask, and coming to where I socialise, I thought he must have a gun.”

After the shooting, police recovered a knife at the scene of the crime but no eyewitnesses reported seeing any other firearms and none were recovered.

A pellet also struck an 11-year-old boy, who was playing in Loxford Park with his family, in the cheek.

Mr Addison faces charges of GBH with intent in relation to the shooting of Mr Bryin, and a charge of wounding with intent over the injured 11-year-old.

After the shooting, Mr Addison was given a lift home by his co-defendant Jabir Mohammed, 22, of Cobham Road, who has pleaded guilty to two counts of assisting an offender.

He said: “When I got home, I took my clothes off and put them into a black bag.

“I wiped the gun down because I knew it had my prints on and wrapped it in plastic before I threw it in the River Roding behind my house.”

Later that evening, Mr Addison, an unnamed teenage boy from Ilford and Mohammed travelled to Chadwell Heath and burnt the 19-year-old’s clothes.

Mr Addison agreed with the Crown that his police interview was “a pack of lies” but said he was telling the truth now.

He told the court: “I’ve come to peace with it now.”

A teenage Ilford boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons and Ali Sheikh, 23, of Buttsbury Road, Ilford, are also on trial, accused of assisting Mr Addison.

All three deny the charges and the trial continues.