Gang of five killers who hacked a 17-year-old boy to death are convicted of murder

A gang of killers hacked a rival to death with blades and celebrated the ‘ride out’ murder in a drill video, a court heard.

Bubacar Jabbie Dukureh, 17, was attacked by five youths outside his home in Walthamstow, east London, on October 23, 2020.

The victim was known as 'Buba' to his family and friends and was 17 at the time of his death.

Samuel Bartley, Jamal Dakissaga-Benitez, Alfie Ferguson, all 19, and Kaiyan Decordova, 20, were convicted of murdering him earlier this year and handed life sentences.

A fifth gang member, now 17 but just 15 at the time, denied murder but was convicted by an Old Bailey jury today after 25 hours of deliberation.

The jury found the teenager, who cannot be named, guilty by a majority of 11 to one.

An UberEats driver saw Buba being attacked by youths armed with knives and swords in his doorway but did not raise the alarm.

Despite the best efforts of paramedics, Buba showed no signs of life and was pronounced dead at 9.57pm.

One of the killers had made a video ‘glorifying’ the murder, set to drill music, the court heard.

The attackers were associated with the ‘Priory Court Boys’ or ‘Higham Hill’ gang who had rivalries with the ‘Mali Boys’.

Judge Anuja Dhir, KC, adjourned sentencing the 17-year-old on a date to be fixed.

She said: ‘As you know there is only one sentence I can pass and that is one of life imprisonment.

‘But it will be for me to set the minimum term that you will serve and I want to know a lot more about you before I do that.’

Prosecutor James Dawes, KC, earlier told the court: ‘Buba was within yards of his own front door when he encountered a group of hostile young men.

‘Buba was attacked...and stabbed to death through his chest.

‘He made it as far as his front door but did not get through his front door. He died in the front yard, the front garden of his house...in a pool of his own blood.’

Emergency services arrived at the scene after the body was discovered by a neighbour but could not revive him.

He was declared dead just before 10pm. CCTV cameras allowed investigating officers to track the movements of Buba and his attackers.

The attacking group came from the Priory Court housing estate that night, a 15 minute walk from the scene of the murder.

Mr Dawes said: ‘There is a word you are going to hear during this case or phrase it is a “ride-out”. In this context it means a gang trip to another gang’s area.

‘Such a trip is dangerous, and that perhaps is part of the attraction, and weapons were carried on this particular ride out.

‘The reason for the ride out may be retribution, it may be to exact revenge for something, or just to go and establish your dominance in someone else’s area.

‘It is the prosecution’s case that this group of five youths were on a ride out to an area controlled by a rival gang and that they carefully prepared for this ride out in advance.

‘They used a safe house to collect changes of clothes and to collect weapons in advance of the ride out.

‘That safe house was in Priory Court.

‘It is the Crown’s case that Buba had the appearance...of a Mali Boy and that was sufficient to get him killed,’ Mr Dawes said.

Jurors heard a drill music video ‘glorifying’ the murder, taken in February 2021, was found on Ferguson’s phone.

‘It focuses in on the [victim’s] door...as if glorifying his part in this particular murder, and it has the appearance of a clip which was intended to be uploaded to the internet to boast about the murder,’ the prosecution said.

‘It turns out that he was one of the murderers.’

Bartley, Dakissaga-Benitez, Ferguson, and Kaiyan Decordova, all of Walthamstow, east London, denied but were convicted of murder in the earlier trial.

The 17-year-old denied but was convicted of murder. He will be sentenced at a date to be agreed.