A Moroccan man accused of robbing a fashion designer of his diamond-encrusted £137,000 watch says he was threatened with being ‘set on fire’ if he did not take part in the crime, a court has heard.

Ali Eldahouzze, 22, and Abdel El Habchi, 30, are accused of being part of a plot to target entrepreneur Catalin Botezatu after he had dinner with his assistant and a friend in Mayfair, central London.

Mr Botezatu had been smoking a cigar on the terrace of Latin American restaurant Amazonico in Berkeley Square on the evening of January 28, and shortly before midnight his Richard Mille watch was cut from his wrist.

Younes Djoudi has pleaded guilty to robbery while El Habchi and Eldahouzze have pleaded not guilty to the charge.

Last week El Habchi told Southwark Crown Court he had ‘no idea’ of a plot to steal a watch before the timepiece was snatched.

On Wednesday, Eldahouzze told jurors Djoudi had threatened his life and ‘told me to go and grab the watch’.

‘He was threatening me, cursing my mother, threatening that he would kill and set me on fire,’ he said. ‘I was looking at the floor; I was very scared. He kept telling me to go and grab that thing. I didn’t understand what he meant because I’m Moroccan and I couldn’t understand exactly what he meant.’

Prosecutors say Eldahouzze assisted Djoudi by pushing Mr Botezatu and grabbing hold of his arm.

But Eldahouzze insisted there was no physical contact, telling the court: ‘As soon as I saw what he (Djoudi) was doing, I just fled.’

He told jurors he refused to follow Djoudi’s instruction to ‘grab the watch’, and feared for his safety in the aftermath.

‘To be honest, that evening, I thought he was going to do something to me, going to kill me or set me on fire while I was at home,’ he said.

El Habchi, a social media influencer in Morocco, told the court that he and his friend Eldahouzze had been travelling from Slough to Soho, central London, hours before the alleged robbery when Eldahouzze received a call from Djoudi telling him to meet in Mayfair.

Prosecutor Arizuna Asante said last week that after leaving the restaurant, Mr Botezatu ‘stood near the car smoking for a few minutes with his friend before three males approached him’.

Mr Asante told jurors: ‘The three males surrounded Mr Botezatu and robbed him of his watch by wresting it from his left wrist. It is believed a knife was used to cut through the rubber strap because the victim had cuts on his wrists after the watch was taken.’

El Habchi told jurors that Djoudi met the pair the following morning with the watch. In his evidence, Eldahouzze said friends of Djoudi took his phone after the robbery, and he said they had sent messages and taken pictures, including an image of the stolen watch.

El Habchi and Eldahouzze each deny one count of robbery.

The trial continues.

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