A teenage rapper has been sent to jail for killing a gang rival at the Brent Cross Mall.
Bhoniefas Rexson, 19, stabbed Gedeon Ngwendema, 21, in the chest on May 4 last year.
The “committed” member of the gang, who appeared in four YouTube music videos, had admitted manslaughter and possession of a knife.
On Wednesday he was jailed at the Old Bailey for 14 years and a further four years on an extended permit.
Rexson had previous convictions for robbery and possession of a lock knife and Rambo-style blade, the court heard.
At the time of the murder, he was also on police bail on suspicion of murder, the court heard.
Judge Anthony Leonard QC said the ‘appalling’ violence in front of adults and children in Brent Cross came after Rexson told a friend at Wormwood Scrubs jail he was looking for a knife ‘for the ride’.
The teenager searched the internet for a shop selling knives and less than 35 minutes later had one hidden in his tracksuit bottoms in the busy mall.
The Thugs For Life gang member came across the victim, who was associated with the rival A9 gang, outside a JD Sports store “by chance”.
During a brief confrontation, Mr. Ngwendema was stabbed in the chest, the blade piercing his heart.
He stumbled towards Marks and Spencer and collapsed in the hall where he died.
He was heard by shoppers saying, “I was tricked (stabbed). Someone call me an ambulance.
Rexson returned to JD Sports and when detained by security guards claimed it was “mistaken identity”.
After his arrest, he dropped the 6cm-long locksmith’s knife into a sewer at a police station, from where it was later retrieved.
Judge Leonard said Rexson was a “committed and active” member of Thugs For Life and managed the gang’s Instagram account, which featured people with guns.
He also ran a Snapchat account and featured as a named artist in YouTube music videos with violent lyrics.
The judge also referred to statements from Mr. Ngwendema’s family describing him as having a “heart of gold”.
Rexson, of Kingsbury, north-west London, had admitted manslaughter by loss of control because he feared he would be attacked.
Judge Leonard told him: “I accept that you have been the victim of serious attacks in the past – it is inevitable as a gang member.
“There is no evidence that the deceased was responsible for this violence.”
The judge sentenced Rexson to 10 months in prison for possession of the blade to run concurrently with the manslaughter sentence.
He ordered a murder charge to be placed on the court record, after any plea was accepted by the Crown.
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Source: www.times-series.co.uk
This notice was published: 2022-03-16 12:34:34
