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Israeli music producer opens up about horrific anti-Semitic kidnapping as three men jailed for extortion plot
19 March 2025, 09:44 | Updated: 19 March 2025, 10:19
An Israeli musician targeted and kidnapped in a vile anti-Semitic attack has opened up about his ordeal to LBC.
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Itay Kashti, a Jewish-Israeli music producer, was lured to what he believed was a musician retreat before being beaten and kidnapped for his race and religion.
Faiz Shah, 23, Mohammad Comrie, 23, and Elijah Ogunnubi-Sime, 20, meticulously plotted the attack on a Telegram group chat before carrying it out on August 26 last year.
They posed as representatives from a reputable music production company and invited the victim, Itay Kashti, to a workshop at a remote property in the Brynteg area of Llanybydder, west Wales.
Speaking to LBC’s Nick Ferrari, Kashti recounted the terrifying ordeal and revealed what he would say to his attackers if he were able to see them again.
He said: “So I got an email in mid-August inviting me to a Music for Songwriting Camp, which is an activity where people like myself, songwriters, producers and engineers congregate and create a large volume of quality material, songs and song ideas.
“It's a great way to connect and, you know, create new opportunities and connections in the field.
“I schedule the phone call to make sure everything is legitimate and sensible. I spoke to one of the three, apparently over the phone.
“We had a fairly decent conversation. We spoke about the kind of music they were thinking about creating and the kind of practises on how they're going to run this camp.”
Kashti was then given a date and a location by the attacker posing as a fellow musician.
The attackers sent a driver, an innocent party in the incident, who took him to Wales where Kashti first started to suspect something was wrong.
Speaking about the drive to Wales, Kashti said he built a strong bond with the driver, a Muslim man, during the five-hour journey.
The driver would go on to call the police after Kashti was attacked.
He told Nick: “We entered the cottage, it looked nice.
“I was feeling a bit bewildered at that stage because this was not exactly what I had in mind.
“And I stepped in a bit further from the lounge towards the bedrooms and it was probably 30 seconds into stepping into the cottage that I got attacked by three men in masks. They were covered, basically, head to toe, so I couldn't see anybody, any of their faces or characteristics, but they started hitting me in the face.
“And I realised that very instance that something was very off, that I'm in a bit of trouble.
The driver managed to escape, alerting authorities as soon as he was safe.
But in the meantime, Kashti was handcuffed and robbed.
After a short time, the music producer realised he was alone and saw his phone left on a nearby table.
Grabbing the opportunity, Kashti grabbed his phone and guitar and made his escape.
Kashti told Nick the attackers targeted him because they assumed, because of his race and religion, he was rich.
“They made an assumption that I am a rich, wealthy person.
“Either because of my social media, that made them look as if I'm a very, very high profile, successful music producer.
“Or because they made an assumption that I'm making a lot of money as a Jew and Israeli, they've tied my name to activities in the West Bank which I have nothing to do with.”
Judge Catherine Richards jailed Shah, of Leeds and Comrie, of Bradford, for eight years and one month, and sentenced Ogunnubi-Sime of Wallington, to eight years and one month in detention.
The judge told them that the case was "motivated by events taking place elsewhere in the world" and imposed a 15-year restraining order.
She said: "This offence involved significant and highly sophisticated planning. None of you knew the victim.
"He was an entirely innocent, hard-working music producer that you had identified as a victim based on your understanding of his wealth and his Jewish heritage."
When pressed on whether eight years was enough for their crimes, Kashti told Nick: “First of all, I'm not a legal representative and I'm not here to criticise the Crown Prosecution Service or the legal system.
“I'm a bit more concerned with what they're going to learn while being in there if they actually managed to understand what the implications of the actions were and these three would come out with a bit more positive attitude to the outside world.
“I really don't care if it's eight years or 20 years, you know, if they're going to come out seeking revenge and they're full of rage then, yeah, you know, it's not in my hands and the UK will have to deal with that.”
He told Nick he would simply say “goodbye” to the men if he ever came face to face with them again.
Speaking after the case, Mark Gardner, chief executive of the Community Security Trust (CST), which has supported the victim and his family, thanked prosecutors for their work in the case.
He said: "The combination of criminality and anti-Jewish hatred could easily have resulted in a far worse, perhaps even fatal outcome.
"We will continue to work with the police and all other partners to ensure the safety of our Jewish community and to bring perpetrators of antisemitism to justice."
Inspector Gareth Jones, of Dyfed-Powys Police, described the "harrowing" impact of the crime on the victim and his family.
"This sentence today reflects the severity of this offence and the ordeal the victim suffered - and we hope it gives the victim a sense of justice," he said.
"We thank him for his strength, bravery and patience whilst we carried out a thorough investigation into what was an extraordinary crime."
