Lekan Akinsoji, a Nigerian national, and his accomplice, Sundjata Keita, both 27 and hailing from Forest Gate, have received life sentences for fatally stabbing a 21-year-old Ahmed Deen-Jah in East London.
After their conviction at the Old Bailey, Justice Anthony Leonard KC ordered Akinsoji to serve a minimum of 28 years and Keita a minimum of 22 years.
The judge praised Deen-Jah’s family for their “dignified silence” throughout the two trials.
He said: “Losing both sons has caused the most unbearable hurt and pain to him and his family. Mr Jah fully realises that no punishment which the court can administer will ever make up for the irreparable damage to his family.”
The court heard that on April 2, 2017, the pair dressed in black with balaclavas and gloves, carried out a planned “gang ride-out” before chasing Deen-Jah into an off-licence near Custom House station, where Akinsoji stabbed him in the heart.
The victim, known by his street name Grinna, was pronounced dead at the scene, just metres from his home.
Prosecutor Anthony Orchard KC said: “This killing was not a spontaneous act of violence, but an attack planned against a background of street violence between two east London gangs.”
Ten days before the murder, Akinsoji appeared in a video titled Armed and Ready, rapping: “No face, no case, no evvy (evidence).”
The victim’s family attended sentencing on Friday, October 24, and described how they were also grieving for his younger brother Junior, who was killed in 2021.
Deen-Jah’s father, Abubakar Jah, who moved to the UK from Sierra Leone in 1995, said his family had been shattered by the tragedy.
“Four years after this, having had no justice in Ahmed’s case, my younger son Junior was also murdered in April 2021… Losing both of my sons has caused the most unbearable hurt and pain,” he said.
His mother, Hawa Deen Conteh, said the family had been altered forever by the “senseless act of violence,” adding, “We hope no other family has to experience the heartache and suffering that we have endured.”
Keita declined to give evidence during the trial.
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