Killers joke together in car brandishing knife before murder

A killer who brutally hacked a teenager to death in a feud over a girl boasted about 'shanking' rival gang members in a sick video filmed just months before the murder.



Ali Zahawy was today jailed for life alongside Fabio Cela, 20, for the murder of Andre Aderemi, 19, in the street last August.



Footage released after the trial shows 20-year-old Zahawy, of Croydon, grinning and brandishing the same knife he used to kill Mr Aderemi while driving a car.



The clip starts with Cela asking: 'What you got for them?'



Zahawy wields the knife, wrapped in cloth, towards the camera.



He then says: 'Bruv, listen yeah, tell Monks Hill and the rest of them yeah, Money Habits, yeah, shanking habits yeah, watch.'



Zahawy was referring to the Mr Aderemi's gang Money Habits, which rivalled his gang Shrublands Boys - which includes Cela and Rodney Mukasa, 20.



It was filmed in the middle of the bitter feud between the two gangs and uploaded to social media in the months leading up to Mr Aderemi's death.



Mr Aderemi was killed when he tried to defend his best friend from her controlling boyfriend Cela.



He wanted the girl - who cannot be named because of her age - to break up with Cela because of the way he treated her.



Hostilities escalated until Cela recruited Zahawy and Mukasa to attack Mr Aderemi on the Monks Hill Estate in Croydon last August 16.



Andre had lived on the estate for most of his life with his mother and two brothers, but had been forced to move away just weeks before over fears for his family's safety.



But on the day in question, he persuaded his mother to drop him off at the estate's Spa shop to meet friends.



It is believed he may have been set up because none of his friends - all members of the 'Money Habits' gang - were present.
Within half an hour of his arrival, the killers pulled up in a white Seat Ibiza.



He fled but fell on nearby Heather Way and was leapt upon by at least three youths, including one of them who was wielding a sword.
Andre suffered multiple stab wounds, kicks and blows with a metal bar and bled to death despite being rushed to hospital by helicopter.



He had been stabbed seven times to the left side of his chest alone.



Zahawy and Mukasa both denied murder, but were convicted on Wednesday after a 10 week trial at the Old Bailey.



Ten dock officers were required to restrain Zahawy who lunged at Mukasa as the verdict was read out.
Cela was cleared of murder but convicted of an alternative count of manslaughter.



The jury was unable to reach a verdict on a charge of murder against a fourth man, the alleged Seat Ibiza driver Jamell Lonergan, 20, who will face a retrial in October.



Jailing Zahawy and Mukasa for life, with a minimum of 22 years, and Cela for 16 years Judge Zoe Smith QC said: 'The victim was aggrieved at the nature of your, Mr Cela, relationship with his good friend - you embroiled your friends, your co-defendants, in your problem.



'Terrible events occurred between late 2015 and August 2016 - in December you Mr Mukasa were stabbed and wounded, Mr Lonergan was also stabbed and his car windows smashed.


'One of your associates was shot in the face while seated in a car and another was the victim of a drive-by shooting while on their doorstep.'
'You Mr Cela and you Mr Zahawy made a video called the 'shanking habits' involving a knife to taunt the Money Habits group - it was the knife that was used to kill Andre.'


'None of you lived on the estate, despite being visitors you wanted control of the estate.


'Andre was but 19 years old, his death has been devastating for his mother, brothers and extended family.


'You Mr Cela, you wanted to take action against Andre, whether in revenge for the stabbings or because he was returning to the estate he had been forced to leave.


'You orchestrated his arrival on the estate that evening to be on his own, and you realised going there mob handed with your group the physical violence would be done to him.


'You knew a knife had been taken to the scene.'


Cela was handed an extended licence period of four years, meaning he will have to serve two-thirds of his sentence in custody.
Zahawy refused to come to court today and was sentenced in his absence.


The court heard Andre had lived with his mother and two brothers on the estate until a few weeks before he died.


On the night of his death, his mother had reluctantly dropped him off at the Spa shop after he begged her for a lift.


He arrived at about 7.15pm and stood around talking to people he knew and some children between the age of 12 and 13 years of age waiting for friends to arrive.


At around 8.15pm, a white Seat Ibiza vehicle pulled up in a little side road outside the shop.


Two out of the four defendants got out of the car, and a witness heard one yell 'What are you saying now?' in Andre's direction.
Andre pulled out his own knife but fled for his life.


He was chased by Zahawy and Mukasa wielding a sword and a metal bar - after a few hundred metres Cela also got out of the car and joined the chase on foot.


Andre was repeatedly stabbed and kicked and hit with the bar when the gang caught up with him.


He managed to aim a few blows at his attackers, stabbing Cela in the back of the head, but was quickly overwhelmed.


The defendants left the seen in the Seat and dumped their weapons on nearby Spout Hill.


Over 40 members of the public witnessed the killing.


The attack was the culmination of a series of tit-for-tat exchanges escalating in violence between Andre's friends on one side and Cela and his friends on the other.
Andre was angry with Cela for treating his girlfriend - one of Andre's best friends - so badly.


As the violence between the two gangs became more serious, Zahawy and Mukasa became the targets of reprisal stabbings, while one of the victim's friends was injured in a shooting.


Andre family were forced to move to Chatham, Kent, while Zahawy's family were also advised to move although they declined to do so.
None of the defendants lived on the Monks Hill Estate, but were caught on CCTV close to the Spa shop in the days before the killing.
It's believed they were filming taunting Snapchat videos of his former home to send to the victim.


The four defendants admitted chasing the victim, but all denied being the one to land the fatal blows - Zahawy and Mukasa blamed each other for the stabbing.


In the wake of Andre's death his mother, Yemi Hughes, said in a victim impact statement: 'He was screaming for me. I couldn't be there to make it better to hold him when he needed me.


'I followed the ambulance praying god didn't take him from me. I could have died that night with my son.'


Ms Hughes, a teacher, said she is only able to carry on because of her two younger sons.


Zahawy, of Bramble Close and Mukasa, of Green View Avenue, in Shirley, Croydon, were both found guilty of murder.


Cela, of Fryston Avenue, also in Croydon, was cleared of murder but found guilty of manslaughter.


Lonergan, of Woodcroft Road, Thornton Heath, faces a retrial in October after the jury were unable to reach a verdict against him.