FOUR gang members who hunted down and stabbed a rival teen to death at the
climax of a bitter YouTube rap war have been jailed for a total of 97 years.
The killers targeted 18-year-old Marcel Addai after a spate 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*** you
up bruvs”.
Sodiq Adebayo, 23, Momar Faye, 18, Sheku Jalloh, 23 and Rickell Rogers, 22,
were all convicted of murder following a trial at the Old Bailey.
Eight videos featuring the rival gangs threatening one another in the run-up
to the murder were shown during the trial.
The last Hoxton Boys video, which issued threats to Rogers, was filmed at the
location Addai was stabbed to death in two months later.
Three cars pulled up and the killers ran towards a group of youths outside a
supermarket, who fled.
Addai was seen running in a zig-zag, trying to escape his attackers, but was
set upon after tripping.
Witnesses heard the words “I’m gonna f*** you up bruvs” repeated
four or five times as the attackers kicked and stabbed the victim.
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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.
The murder took place in an area of the estate where there was no CCTV, and no
witness accounts were detailed enough to identify the attackers.
Before murdering Addai, Rogers tweeted: “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.”
She 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 in prison with a minimum
of 25 years, while Faye, the youngest, was sentenced to custody for life
with a minimum of 22 years.
Matthew Addai, Marcel’s grandfather, said 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 Fellows Court Gang members, accountancy student Akeem
Gbadamosi, 22, Eugene Ocran, 19, David Oladimeji, 21, were acquitted of
murder and manslaughter.
Prosecutor Mark Heywood QC said Addai was targeted because he was a member of
the Hoxton Boys gang.
The 18-year-old had been stabbed in the buttock and thigh in April last year,
before being killed in September.
Police tracked the killers from the number plates on three vehicles they drove
to the murder.
The seven men admitted being present, but denied having 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.