A rapper was shot dead ‘with military precision’ as he sat in a car in a revenge attack three years after he was cleared of murder, a court has heard.
Tamba Momodu, known as Teerose, moved 160 miles from London after he was acquitted at the Old Bailey of murdering another rapper, 19-year-old Abdullahi Tarabi.
But a court heard Momodu was allegedly traced by relatives of his victim before the 20-year-old was gunned down in a ‘cold-blooded execution’ – after the defendants made 16 trips to Telford, Shropshire, where he had moved with his family.
Prosecutor James Curtis KC said Momodu was shot six times in a car park at point-blank range four years ago as he was about to go the gym with two friends.
Jurors heard Mr Momodu had moved from north London to Telford in 2018 to start a new life after he was cleared of murdering Mr Tarabi, known as Teewiz, who was stabbed in an alleyway in Northolt, West London, in April 2017.
Prosecutor allege Mr Momodu was ‘stalked’ and tracked down by Tarabi’s older brother and cousin who were intent on revenge.
Mahamud Tarabi, 32, and Ahmed Karshe, 30, who are both on trial for Mr Momodu’s murder, alongside Deria Hassan, 32, and Merje Ngoy, 24, are said to have found the victim’s new location after he was jailed in October 2019 for possession with intent to supply drugs and his new address was published in the media.
Mr Curtis said a number of trips, starting on September 2 2020, were made to the Telford area in different cars, 11 of those being ‘reconnaissance’ before four unsuccessful attempts to carry out the killing were made.
It was on their 16th visit to Telford that they finally ‘ambushed’ Mr Momodu and ‘singled him out for death’ in October 2020 as Mr Momodu sat in the passenger seat of a friend’s car outside the Fitness Factory gym.
Mr Momodu’s friend had unknowingly parked his Renault Megan next to a Skoda Karoq on false plates that had been stolen from London that July and had at least two people inside wearing high-visibility tabards, one of whom exited the vehicle and carried out the shooting, with bullets passing through the victim’s back, neck, his heart and his left lung.
