The mother of a woman killed by her boyfriend has said she feels “absolutely betrayed” by the justice system after he was handed a hospital order for manslaughter.
Gogoa Lois Tape, 28, was detained under the Mental Health Act on Monday for strangling 25-year-old Kennedi Westcarr-Sabaroche in Hackney, east London, in April last year and driving her body around before confessing to his brother hours later that he had killed her.
The defendant was originally accused of murder, but a guilty plea to manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility was accepted by prosecutors.
About 40 of Ms Westcarr-Sabaroche’s loved ones sat in the well of the court at Inner London Crown Court on Monday as Tape was sentenced, with some walking out when statements by members of the defendant’s family were read by the defence describing him as a loving person before his mental health deteriorated.
Judge Freya Newbery, who handed Tape a hospital order under Section 37 of the Mental Health Act with a restriction order under Section 41 – which means he can be detained indefinitely – said he was at the time of the attack an “undiagnosed schizophrenic” who held “paranoid and persecutory delusions” which “substantially impaired” his judgment and exercise of self control.
Linda Westcarr, the victim’s mother, told the PA news agency after the hearing: “Devastated at the outcome that Judge Newbery handed down today, the sentence today, which was a whole hospital order without any penal element, no punishment.
“Although I don’t dismiss mental health and the challenges and struggles that people face, we still feel justice has not been served.”
“Absolutely betrayed by the system,” she continued. “The system has failed us in many ways – failed to support us, failed to explain to us the decisions that they have made.
“We haven’t been consulted with we’ve been dictated to. That needs to change.”
Ms Westcarr’s brother, Leon Westcarr, told PA the family feels let down by the lack of transparency they have experienced throughout the process surrounding her death.
“The information that’s been given to us from the police, the prosecution, it’s all been us asking them what’s going on,” he said.
“We as victims should be involved, should be brought on that journey with them so that there’s no surprises.
“That’s the sort of thing that needs to be changed – transparency, a voice for victims.”
Ms Westcarr added: “The justice system needs to see us as a voice, as mentioned, but (also) not to see us as just the grieving family, that they’re emotionally invested and therefore are unable to participate in the process.
“The justice system is very closed and… they forget about the families and the victims and that is key to this.”
They have demanded an urgent review of Tape’s sentence.
Speaking to reporters outside court, Ms Westcarr said: “This case exposes the brokenness of our justice system – a killer who planned his actions avoids prison and receives treatment instead; a prosecution that failed to fight justice or for the truth; a family silenced, even in our victim personal statements restricted in what we were allowed to say.
“We demand an urgent review of this sentence for undue leniency, a meeting with the Prime Minister, Home Secretary, Lord Chancellor and Director of Public Prosecutions to answer for these failures.
“We will not be silenced, we will fight not only for justice for Kennedi, but to protect other women and girls.”
Emma Webber – whose son Barnaby’s killer, Valdo Calocane, was sentenced to a hospital order after admitting manslaughter by diminished responsibility for three fatal stabbings in Nottingham in 2023 – said: “I stand with Kennedi’s family not just in grief, but in outrage.
“We cannot allow another young woman’s life to be devalued by a system that too readily excuses violence.
“We must and will ensure that this cruel, unjust and archaic system properly reforms.
“We have called upon the minister for victims to pay proper heed to the rights of victims and to the minister for justice to bring about long overdue change to the criminal justice system.”
A review of the Crown Prosecution Service’s (CPS) actions in Calocane’s case found prosecutors were right to accept the plea but the report found the CPS could have handled the case better in some areas and called on ministers to consider recategorising homicide laws, as recommended by the Law Commission nearly 20 years ago, to make three tiers of charges available to prosecutors – first and second degree murder and manslaughter.
His Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate’s Chief Inspector Anthony Rogers has recommended that the Government make those reforms.
Julian Hendy, director of Hundred Families – a charity which supports families bereaved by people with mental health problems – said defendants sentenced to a hospital order can often return to the community on licence after five to 10 years.
“So it doesn’t feel like justice for the family,” he told PA. “It’s like almost trial by doctor, because everything’s done behind closed doors.
“This is diminished responsibility, which means there’s some responsibility left over. A hospital order is not punishment, so the residual responsibility is not dealt with.”
Tape and Ms Westcarr-Sabaroche met when they were teenagers in college about 10 years ago.
Their young daughter has been left “motherless”, with the judge telling Tape their child is “the victim of what you did, not just at the time, but she has to carry that around with her, her whole life – her father killed her mother”.
It became apparent that the defendant’s mental health had declined from 2023, with Tape becoming paranoid and then jealous, the court heard.
He had some contact with mental health services that year and was warned to abstain from cannabis, which he had smoked since 2014.
The defendant, of Hackney, east London, was also sentenced for possession of a knife.
