LONDON—Five members of a gang who shot dead a rival during a “rideout” on a London street and then celebrated his death at a secret gathering have been jailed by a judge who condemned their “callous disregard for life.”
Sharmake Mohamud, 22, was killed in Haringey, north London, on Sep. 21, 2021, by members of a gang from Palmers Green.
The trial at the Old Bailey heard it was a “tit-for-tat” killing by a gang from Palmers Green who were targeting rivals from the TPL gang in Turnpike Lane, following a shooting several weeks earlier.
Rideouts are incidents where a gang drives onto the turf of a rival group looking for someone to attack, either with knives or guns.
After the shooting, the gang drove to the back of a garage where detectives later found CCTV footage of them fist-bumping and patting each other on the back to celebrate the successful mission.
Jailing the men on Friday, Judge Simon Mayo, KC, said one of the defendants had claimed they were celebrating being invited to a house party.
Mayo said: “That was clearly a lie. I’m entirely satisfied that what you were celebrating was finding out that the shooting had been successful and it showed a callous disregard for life.”
Three shots were fired and one of them hit a passing moped rider who was injured but survived.
The judge said: “He clearly wasn’t a target but the fact that a passing member of the public was hit graphically illustrated the danger of death and injury when firearms are discharged in the street.”
The gunman, Ali Ceesay, 29, fled to Gambia but was later extradited back to London.
Judge Condemns ‘Hollow’ Expressions of Remorse
On Friday, Ceesay’s lawyer claimed his client had “tried to express his apology” for Mohamud’s death but Mayo said he found his remorse “hollow” considering he had lied on oath to the jury.
Ceesay was jailed for life with a minimum term of 35 years and 275 days while Abdul Mohamed, 26, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 34 years and Mehdi Younes, 22, was also given a life sentence with a minimum term of 31 years.
Two younger members of the gang, Jaymar Creary and Joyce Manzenza, who were both 16 at the time but have now turned 18, were sentenced to Her Majesty’s Pleasure and told they would not be released for at least 22 years.
All five were found guilty in March and on Friday the court heard victim impact statements from the victim’s mother, sister and girlfriend.
In her statement—read out by prosecutor Anthony Orchard, KC,—Bilan Mohamud said Sharmake was her first son and she said: “How did they take my son away from me? ... Their parents can still interact and embrace them while my son is laying in his grave.”
‘Gang Rivalries Need to Stop’
Bilan Mohamud then said: “The rivalries need to stop. You guys are not looking at the long-time pain.”The trial heard how Ceesay and the other four drove a stolen Jaguar into Green Lanes in Haringey hoping to find rivals from the TPL gang.
Mohamed knew the victim and several other members of the TPL, who he had formerly been friends with and he was described in court as the “spotter.”
The court heard he pointed them out and then Ceesay got out of the car and fired three shots at Mohamud and two friends, fatally wounding the victim.
One of the shots hit a passing moped rider who had nothing to do with the two gangs.
Opening the case, Orchard told the jury: “It appears Sharmake Mohamud was the likely real target ... It may have been more random than that ... On either scenario, the intention was clear. To kill. And this is what they did.”
After the shooting, the gang drove off and parked behind a garage in Green Lanes, where they often congregated.
Detectives later found CCTV footage of eight members of the gang apparently celebrating after Mohamed got a phone call, probably informing them of the victim’s death.
In his sentencing remarks, Mayo said the victim’s relatives had spoken of the “void” his death left in their lives and he praised the “quiet composure and dignity” of the family during the trial.
He said he had no doubt the four in the car and Younes—who though not in the vehicle had acted as the gang’s “quartermaster” and had passed a machete to one of the others before they set off—were all part of a joint enterprise to kill a member of the rival gang.
