Fellows Court gang members accused of murdering teenager Marcel Addai met in Ilford before driving to stab him, court hears
Marcel Addai, 17. Picture: Metropolitan Police - Credit: Archant
Gang members gathered at one of their Ilford homes before driving to Hoxton to murder a teenager, a court has heard.
Floral tributes left at St Johns Estate in Pitfield Street where Detectives investigating the murder have now formally named the 18-year-old victim as Marcel Addai. He was found by police just after 11pm on Friday September 4 - Credit: Archant
Sodiq Adebayo, 23, of De Vere Gardens, and David Oladimeji, 21, of Axon Place, are two of seven men on trial at the Old Bailey for fatally stabbing 18-year-old Marcel Addai in St John’s Estate, Pitfield Street, Hoxton on September 4 last year.
Mr Addai, who lived nearby in Wenlock House, Evelyn Walk, was allegedly chased and stabbed 12 times.
He was a member of the Hoxton Boys gang, who prosecutors say had a fierce rivalry with the Fellows Court gang, of which six of the defendants were members.
The other five standing trial are Rikell Rogers, 22, of Goldney Road, Maida Vale; Akeem Gbadamosi, 22, of Detmold Road, Clapton; Eugene Ocran, 19, of Fermain Court West, De Beauvoir Road, Haggerston; and Sheku Jalloh, 23, of Crondall Court, St John’s Estate.
The other defendant, Momar Faye, 18, of no fixed address, had “beef” with the Hoxton Boys after being stabbed twice by its members, Rogers told jurors today.
The court heard how all the men met at Oladimeji’s Ilford home before travelling in a BMW, Vauxhall Astra and Mercedes to Hackney, where they parked up in Cherbury Street.
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In his defence statement, Rogers – who said he left the Fellows Court Gang in 2012 – claimed he was reclined in the passenger seat of the Mercedes and never got out.
He said he was “not completely with it” because he was suffering from toothache.
But during cross examination he added that he had been drinking a miniature bottle of rum and Adebayo, the driver, had alerted him to a disturbance.
“I just saw the aftermath,” he told prosecutor Mark Heywood. “I saw someone run past the car in a grey tracksuit and something on their head but I didn’t get a close up of their face.”
Mr Heywood accused him of lying in his statement – submitted days before the trial started – in order to back up the claims he didn’t take part in the killing. He questioned why he didn’t include everything he saw.
Rogers told him: “I was told [by lawyers] not to say anything. I didn’t really want to say what I saw and have it get disclosed.
“I would have got attacked in prison by Momar [Faye] and his friends. Momar would have been the most angry because that’s exactly what he was wearing.”
But Mr Heywood hit out: “You were out of the car, had a knife and used it.”
Earlier, jurors were shown videos of Rogers rapping under the name Dubsy. One Fellows Court video from April last year “dissed” the Hoxton Boys gang with lyrics including “if I’m on the Gully tell your son he better get inside” and “F*** Gullyside”.
Rogers was threatened himself in a retaliatory track which was also played to the court. But he said the videos were an agreement by both gangs to “get more hits” on YouTube.
The trial continues.
