YouTube rap war killers jailed for at least 97 years

Sodiq Adebayo

Four gang members who hunted down and stabbed a rival to death at the climax of a bitter YouTube rap war were jailed for a total of at least 97 years today (TUES).

The killers targeted 18 year-old Marcel Addai following a series of tit-for-tat attacks between the Hoxton Boys and the Fellows Court Gang in the Hackney area of London.

Addai, a member of the Hoxton Boys, was cornered and knifed 14 times only 200 metres from his home as one of his killers yelled ‘I’m gonna f*ck you up bruvs’.

Sodiq Adebayo, 23, Momar Faye, 18, Sheku Jalloh, 23 and Rickell Rogers, 22, were all convicted of the murder after a trial at the Old Bailey.

Jurors were shown eight videos featuring the rival gangs making threats to each other in the months before the killing.

The last Hoxton Boys video, which issued threats to Rogers, was filmed at the location where Mr Addai was stabbed to death two months later.

Rogers also prophetically tweeted before the murder: ‘This road ting gonna end one day. They say the only way out is jail or dead and I see both.’

Judge Rebecca Poulet QC said: ‘This case is yet another example of the terrible grip which gang culture has on the young men that embrace it.

‘Parents must recognise that the failure to instil in the child or young person a proper understanding that the infliction of violence is very wrong can have terrible consequences to those touched by it.’

The judge told the killers: ‘Your conduct throughout this case has shown a ruthlessness as well as a complete lack of remorse.

‘You have shown throughout a cruel disregard of the pain Marcel Addai suffered that night and the continuing anguish of his family.

‘I have no doubt that the ongoing threats between you and the Hoxton Boys was at the heart of this attack.’

Adebayo, Rogers and Jalloh were all sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 25 years before parole, while Faye, the youngest, was sentenced to custody for life with a minimum of 22 years before parole.

Momar Faye

Matthew Addai, Marcel’s grandfather, said in a statement that they had been planning to move Marcel out of the country to escape gang violence before the murder.

He said: ‘The first 15 years of Marcel Addai’s life were without blemish and he was a loving, hard-working boy.

‘However the last two years were a difficult time as a family and we were working hard to get him through it. We were making plans to get him out of the country… but he was cruelly taken from us before this could materialise.

‘The whole family has been left devastated and shocked by his death.’

Three other suspected members of the Fellows Court Gang – accountancy student Akeem Gbadamosi, 22, Eugene Ocran, 19, David Oladimeji, 21, were acquitted of murder and an alternative count of manslaughter.

During the trial prosecutor Mark Heywood QC told the court that Mr Addai was targeted solely because of his membership of the Hoxton Boys gang.

He said: ‘There was a long-running dispute between the Hoxton and Fellows Court gangs with violence on both sides.

‘It has given rise to a great deal of harm both ways, not only to the individuals involved but also to the community.’

Jurors were told of two previous stabbings, including one attack in April last year which left Marcel Addai with wounds to his buttock and thigh.

On 4 September last year the Fellows Court group met up before setting off for Hoxton in a convoy of three vehicles, Adebayo’s black Mercedes, Gbadamosi’s silver Vauxhall Astra and Ocran’s dark blue BMW.

At about 10pm, neighbours heard a commotion as the occupants got out of the cars and ran towards a small group of local youths hanging around by the supermarket.

Addai was seen running in a zig-zag, trying to escape his attackers, but he tripped and was set upon by the killers.

Witnesses heard the words ‘I’m gonna f*ck you up bruvs’ repeated four or five times as the attackers kicked and stabbed the victim.

Addai curled into a ball to try and protect himself, but suffered 14 knife wounds to his chest and thighs, as well as severe force injuries from the kicks.

A neighbour tried to film the attack from an upstairs window, and a voice can be heard screaming ‘Come back! Come back! as the attackers fled.

Despite the efforts of paramedics, he bled to death outside Wenlock House on Evelyn Walk in Hoxton, north London.

Mr Heywood said: ‘Marcel Addai died a very short walk from his own front door, surrounded by enemies.

‘He was put to the ground and then stabbed and slashed multiple times, before being left, beyond help, for dead.’

The murder took place in an area of the estate where there was no CCTV, and there were no witness accounts detailed enough to identify the attackers.

But the killers were eventually tracked down by the number plates on the three vehicles, which led police to Oladimeji’s flat in Ilford.

Rogers, Jalloh and Oladimeji fled to Birmingham, while Ocran stayed with a friend in Corringham, Essex.

They were all eventually tracked and arrested between 9 and 13 September.

The seven men admitted being present, but denied being the ones wielding the knives

Adebayo, who has previous convictions for dealing in class A drugs, was last year acquitted of the murder of Noor Hassan Barre at a party at Middlesex University in Hendon.

Rogers has previous convictions for robbery, wounding and possessing knives, Jalloh has previous for drug dealing and Faye has previous for robbery.

Adebayo, of De Vere Gardens, Ilford, Faye, of no fixed address, Rogers, of Goldney Road, Maida Vale, and Jalloh, of Crondall Court, St John’s Estate, were all convicted of murder.

Oladimeji, of Axon Place, Ilford; Gbadamosi, of Detmold Road, Clapton; Ocran, of Fermain Court West, De Beauvoir Road, Haggerston, were all cleared of the same charge.