Court Hears of 'Organised Execution' in Barons Court
Janayo Lucima was lured to his death on April Fools' Day
Police on Comeragh Road following the fatal shooting in April last year
February 24, 2025
A trial at the Old Bailey has heard more details of the events leading up to the fatal shooting of 21-year-old Janayo Lucima last year.
The prosecution is claiming that he was lured to his death in a carefully planned and organised execution in Barons Court on 1 April. When he came out of the house on Comeragh Road where he was hiding, he was allegedly shot once in the chest at close range by 18-year-old Mohamed Mansaray.
The police believe that the assassination, which was the result of a dispute between rival drug gangs, was co-ordinated by 22-year-old Khuder Al Kurdi, 22, from his home nearby. Al Kurdi phoned Lucima who came out onto the street shortly after the call at 10pm.
Officers have presented evidence which they say shows that nine people in total were involved in the killing providing "back up, support and encouragement", although two have since fled to Somalia and Libya. The handgun used to kill Lucima was never recovered.
Lucima had been sent to a Young Offenders’ Institution for perverting the course of justice for three years and three months in 2021 after he had been found guilty of helping dismember the body of 53-year-old William ‘Blaise’ Algar. The former Chiswick School student had been murdered by a gang of drug dealers who had taken over his home in Barnes in 2019 .
Lucima had been described by his teachers and friends as quiet and well mannered and being a talented musician who played the violin and toured with a choral group. His family believe he was groomed by older criminals when he was young and impressionable and that is how he became enmeshed in the drugs trade. After leaving Young Offenders he had started an apprenticeship and he told his mother and siblings he intended to turn his life around.
Janayo Lucima. Picture: Met Police
Mr Al Kurdi, of Barons Court, and Mr Mansaray, of Neasden, deny murder.
Co-defendants Muktar Said, 23, of Hammersmith; Issa Siteri, 19, of Kensington; Yusuf Abdi, 19, of Westminster; Pharrell Cowans, 18, of Harrow, and two 17-year-old boys, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, are also pleading not guilty
The Old Bailey trial continues.
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