They shot three people at random

Two gunmen who shot three innocent people with a machine pistol in a gang ‘ride out’ have been jailed for 57 years.

Sheikh Dibba, 21, and Fahim Rahman, 34, were part of an ‘expedition to kill’ on 11 October 2020 when they opened fire on the victims in a playground at Nisbet House, Homerton.

They were shot at least 13 times with a Skorpion fully automatic machine gun from the window of a white Ford Mondeo, the Old Bailey heard.

One of the victims, aged 60, was hit in his right ankle and only survived after playing dead, hoping the gunman would not shoot again.

A 44-year-old man was hit in his thighs, but luckily suffered no permanent injuries.

The third victim, a 32-year-old man, was hit four times around his hips, receiving multiple injuries to his bowel.

His life was only saved due to the heroic efforts of surgeons after he was taken to hospital.

The shooting was part of a postcode war between the E9 gang, also known as the “Two Four”, and the London Fields gang, which has a younger section that call themselves “Zero Tolerance” or the “Chest Shot Gang”.

The postcode war started around 2008 with a spate of shootings, stabbings, and murders.

Dibba, of the Kings Square estate, Clerkenwell, was jailed for 30 years and Rahman, of Aylesford Street, Westminster, got 27 years behind bars.

Judge Phillip Katz QC told them: ‘You set off on a well-planned expedition to kill. The weapon of choice was a Skorpion submachine gun.

‘That such a firearm is available on the streets of London is one of the most serious aggravating features in this case.

‘I am sure that the background to these events was a long-standing, criminal gang rivalry, that you both knew of this gang rivalry and that it was one more incident in the history of tit-for-tat violence.

‘The sub machine gun was fired indiscriminately at least 13 times in a residential area. There was obviously a high risk of death, indeed death was intended.’

Members of their families had shouted ‘Suck your mum!’ and ‘Bulls-t!’ from the public gallery after a jury gave a guilty verdict in February.

Security guards dragged them out of the courtroom, but the group waited outside the Old Bailey and jostled the prosecutor.

For the sentencing hearing the judge allowed only limited access to the public gallery.

Andrew Frymann, representing Dibba, said: ‘There is some remorse and regret expressed by Mr Dibba.

‘He did express that he was sorry for the victims, it definitely should not have happened and he has reflected on how traumatising it would have been for them.’

Bill Evans, representing Rahman, said: ‘We draw attention to the defendant’s acceptance of culpability and his express desire to rehabilitate himself.’

‘It is inevitable, as there is in these circumstances, that there will be a very substantial effect not only on his partner’s life but also his daughter’s.’

Dibba and Rahman denied but were convicted of three counts of attempted murder and one count of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.