Six young men have been jailed for life for the murder of a 21-year-old man who was shot dead on April Fool’s Day in a carefully planned and orchestrated “execution”.
Aspiring music producer Janayo Lucima, 21, was shot in the chest at close range after being lured into an ambush in Barons Court, west London, on the evening of April 1, 2024.
Although 18-year-old Mohamed Mansaray pulled the trigger, the doorstep killing was orchestrated by Khuder Al Kurdi, 22, from his home nearby, the Old Bailey heard.
Al Kurdi provided the gun and phoned Mr Lucima to get him outside where Mansaray had been lurking with others armed with knives for back-up.
At their trial, the prosecution suggested the killing arose from drug-dealing rivalries between two groups.
Mr Lucima had been released from jail a year before his murder after being convicted of perverting the course of justice in relation to the death of 53-year-old jazz musician William Algar in 2021.
Then aged 19, he had admitted running a drugs line from the victim’s property and buying bleach, washing-up liquid, clothes and black bin bags after Mr Algar’s death.
However, his family have said that former choirboy and karate black belt Mr Lucima was being well supported and trying to turn his life around when he was killed.
On Friday, six young men who were convicted of his murder were jailed for life with minimum terms ranging between 22 and 33 years.
“Calculating and callous” Al Kurdi, of Barons Court, was jailed for at least 33 years for his “pivotal role” in organising the murder and drug dealing offences.
Gunman Mansaray, of Neasden, north-west London, was locked up for at least 27 years.
Muktar Said, 24, of Hammersmith; Issa Siteri, 19, of Kensington; Yusuf Abdi, 19, of Westminster, and a 17-year-old youth were handed minimum sentences of 29 years, 28 years, 28-and-a-half years, and 22 years respectively.
Judge Simon Mayo KC paid tribute to the “remarkable dignity and composure” of Mr Lucima’s family, who sat through the five-month trial.
He apologised to them for the “bravado” displayed by the defendants who smiled and laughed as they were sent down.
Earlier, Mr Lucima’s mother Winifred Ayo had called on the defendants to come clean about why they targeted her son.
Addressing the defendants in court, she said: “You chose the time, the date, to execute your plans. Everyone had a role. You prepared for the moment.
“When I watch the CCTV a few minutes before you executed my son, it was like something from a movie.
“Mansaray, you even practised your target while the others lay in wait. When the time came, you did not hesitate.”
She went on: “You did not just take our son’s life that night, you also took ours.
“I miss his laugh, I miss his perfect smile. I miss his singing. Janayo loved music, even classical music. He would play the violin and piano.
“Janayo was full of dreams even though he had not figured out how to accomplish them.
“But he was heartlessly taken away from us by self-centred young men steeped in a sub-culture of violence with complete disregard for human life.
“I hope one of you will find it in your hearts to give me the reason why you all went to such lengths to kill my son. I know I will never be at peace and will always keep searching for the real reason.
“I get panic attacks wondering what Janayo saw, what Janayo felt, whether he understood in those last seconds before you, Mansaray, pulled that trigger, when Al Kurdi lured him out with a bogus phone call.
“Did he know it was the end? Did he have time to be afraid?
“As you know, that was the end of life for Janayo, not by fate or chance, by your co-ordinated choice to kill him.”
In an interview with PA news agency, she said there was “no indication” anything was amiss when her son went out on the day of his murder.
Describing her “never-ending” grief, she said: “He used to sing in a choir. He just loved making music at home, like the violin and the piano.
“He was always singing making music demo tapes at home on the piano.
“He was not a violent person. He was kind and he just loved me, and then he loved life. And he should still be here.”
Detective Chief Inspector Brian Howie, from Scotland Yard, told PA: “We still don’t know the real reason they were after Janayo, because none of them gave a truthful explanation of why he had to be killed on that day, on that time, and in such a horrific manner.
“The family have had to endure a five-month tortuous trial where they’ve had to hear some horrific graphic details of how their loved one was killed, and they desperately needed the answers. No family should ever have to go through that.
“We have managed to get six extremely dangerous people off the street. It doesn’t matter they’re young, it doesn’t matter their backgrounds. What matters is they all worked as a group with murderous intent that evening to kill Janayo.”
Even though just one of the men fired the fatal shot, others were armed with knives as back-up and all bore “joint responsibility”.
Mr Howie said: “It should be a warning to everyone out there. If you’re going to be involved in this kind of criminality, it doesn’t matter that you’re not the person killing them.
“If you played your part, if you’ve encouraged, if you participated, if you back them up, you will be convicted of murder and hopefully the lengthy sentence will also show as a warning to other individuals involved in these kind of horrific violent attacks.”
