A London court has sentenced Nigerian drill rapper Lekan Akinsoji and his accomplice, Sundjata Keita, both 27, to life imprisonment for the cold-blooded murder of 21-year-old Ahmed Deen-Jah in east London.
Akinsoji, from Forest Gate, will serve a minimum of 28 years, while Keita must serve at least 22 years before being considered for parole.
The Old Bailey heard that on April 2, 2017, the pair dressed in black, wearing balaclavas and gloves, and launched a planned gang “ride-out” near Custom House station.
They chased Deen-Jah, known on the streets as “Grinna,” into a corner shop, where Akinsoji stabbed him in the heart. The victim died at the scene, just metres from his home.
Prosecutor Anthony Orchard KC said the murder was not random, but part of a long-running feud between two rival east London gangs.
Just ten days before the attack, Akinsoji appeared in a drill video titled Armed and Ready, where he chillingly rapped, “No face, no case, no evvy (evidence).”
Deen-Jah’s father, Abubakar Jah, who moved to the UK from Sierra Leone in 1995, said the family had been destroyed by the tragedy.
“Four years after Ahmed’s death, my younger son Junior was also murdered. Losing both sons has caused unbearable pain,” he said.
His mother, Hawa Deen Conteh, described the killing as a “senseless act of violence” that forever changed their family.
“We hope no other family suffers the heartache we’ve endured,” she said.
Keita refused to testify during the trial, while Akinsoji’s violent lyrics and gang links played a key role in the conviction.
The judge condemned the murder as a “shocking, ruthless act of gang violence” that ended a young man’s life and devastated an entire family.
