R v Delroy Wright and others, and
R v Reano Walters and others
Sentencing remarks of Mr Justice Openshaw
In the Manchester Crown Court
14 September, 2017
Introduction
On 12 May, last year, 18 year old Abdul Hafidah, a member of one Moss Side street gang, the Rusholme Cripz, deliberately intrudedwith hostile intent, into the territory of AO or Active Only, another such gang; he was spotted by them, and chased through the streets of Manchester, and in broad daylight, in the presence of many horrified on-lookers, he was knocked down by a chasing car, beaten up, stabbed and left for dead in the middle of the road.
Thirteen defendantswere charged with his murder, it was plainly unmanageable to try them all together,therefore, I heard two trials, at the first trial in Manchester Delroy Wright, Durrell Ford, Devonte Cantrill and Nathaniel Williams were convicted of murder; William George, Devonta Neish and [name] were acquitted of murder but were convicted of manslaughter. [Name] was only 14 at the time; he is still only 15, therefore, no report of these proceedings should name him or give any particulars by which he might be identified; I shall refer to him simply as S.
The second trialfollowed immediately upon the first; it was transferred to Preston, to reduce the risk of prejudice arising from the publicity given to the first trial; as that case was called on, Remekell Samuels pleaded guilty to manslaughter, which plea was accepted by the prosecution; after trial Reano Walters, Trey Wilson and Durrell Goodall were convicted of murder; Cordell Austin was acquitted of murder and manslaughter; the prosecution did not proceed against Shannon Burke.
Eleven defendants therefore fall to be sentenced; I must set out the facts.
Gang feuding
The victim, Abdul Hafidah was at the time of his death aged just 18. He was of Libyan descent. I have heard the victim personal statementread by his sister, on behalf of all the family which movingly describes their grief at his death and at a life so needlessly taken from them; however, distressing, and perhaps surprising, as it may have been to them, there is no doubt that Abdul Hafidah was an active member of the Rusholme Cripz, whose members were mainly of Libyan or Somali heritage.
Although each denied it, I find as a fact that each convicted defendant was a member of the rival AO (or ‘Active Only’) gang, or at least was affiliated to it; some had AO signs or symbols on their mobile telephones; a couple had even referred to the gang as their ‘family’; these matters were canvassed in detail during the trial and if it becomes necessary to review or consider these sentences, reference should be made to the gang related images collected together in the jury bundles of both trials. Furthermore, each habitually associated with others members and at places which were known AO assembly points, in particular on Westwood Street in Moss Side and, as I shall explain, each played his part in these events as if they were acting together, ‘hunting like a pack of animals’ as one eye witness vividly put it.
The gangs are strongly territorial, with clearly defined boundaries, which are patrolled and – if threatened – are defended by force. There is a long history of gang feuding and tit for tat violence between the rival gangs, which was set out in the agreed facts of both trials; I need not now recite it all but a few incidents seem to me to have particular relevance.
On 18 May 2015, in revenge for an attack by another AO member upon a member of the Rusholme Cripza few days before, the defendant Durrell Ford was severely beaten by assailants wielding a baseball bat; he sustained a serious fracture to his elbow; as is common in cases of gangland violence, he refused to assist the police in their investigations. In spite of that, the police suspected that Abdul Hafidah and another young man were responsible, as Durrell Ford perfectly well knew; because he would not give a witness statement, neither was charged but I have no doubt that members of the AO gang in general, and Durrell Ford in particular,knew or believed that Abdul Hafidah had been one of his assailants.
On 3 May 2016, just nine days before Abdul Hafidah’s murder, Reano Walters, a member of the AO gang, set out in a series of texts to his former girlfriend how he had been run down and injured by a car driven by ‘some Libyan Kid’ (as I have said, the Rusholme Cripz were largely composed of persons of Libyan heritage).
Just the day before the murder,the defendant Devonta Neish later reported to his social workerthat he had gone to a part of Moss Side, which was within the territory controlled by the Rusholme Cripz; he was approached by someone whom he later realised was Abdul Hafidah, who put a knife to his throat and told him to get out of that part of Moss Side, otherwise he (Hafidah) would stab him.This gave Devonta Neish a strong motive to take revenge upon Abdul Hafidah; Durrell Ford said in evidence that Neish had told him what had happened; I am sure that this threat by Abdul Hafidah to Neish became common knowledge among the AO members, including these other defendants.
Therefore, having attacked Durrell Ford the year before and threatened Devonta Neish the day before, to these defendants, Abdul Hafidah was a marked man.
The narrative
I turn then to the day of the murder, 12 May last year; some of the events are shown in the compilation video which was skilfully put together by the police from the footage recovered from various CCTV cameras; it shows parts - but only parts - of what happened; that was supplemented by the evidence of over 20 eyewitnesses. The evidence took six weeks in the first trial and three weeks in the second trial; in the course of sentencing remarks, I can only give an outline summary of what happened.
At 6 minutes to 5 (16.54 as shown on the telephone schedule adduced in evidence in the second trial) a call was made from an untraced telephone, number 1760, to Abdul Hafidah. Since there are numerous other calls made by that phone to William George, to Remekell Samuels and one call to Nathaniel Williams, all of whom are AO gang members, I draw the conclusion that whoever controlled that telephone was an AO member or supporter. There is no direct evidence of what was said in that call, since the user of the 1760 number is untraced and Abdul Hafidah is dead.
Within 5 minutes of that call, Abdul Hafidah walked into Westwood Street; this was – as he must have known – in the heart of ‘enemy’ territory. In view of what later happened, I find that he had a kitchen knife with him; I draw the inevitable and irresistible conclusion that he was up to no good; there must be have been some causal connection between the call from the 1760 phone at 16.54 and his appearance in Westwood Street at 17.00, but I do not think that I can go further without speculating.
The defendants, or most of them, were in Westwood Street at the time; it was the usual gathering place for many – if not most – of them.
Abdul Hafidah saw the group of AO members, including many of these defendants, in the street; he realised that he was in danger and, obviously to avoid them, he suddenly changed direction and then hid, in the shrubs in the grounds of a derelict house on the corner of Raby Street.
Shortly after this, two cars which had been parked on Westwood Street drove off; one was the Astra, driven by Remekell Samuels, with Delroy Wright as a passenger; that was followed by the Corsa, driven by Nathaniel Williams, in which Reano Walters was the passenger. The cars drove along Raby Street and past the derelict house.
Abdul Hafidah, hiding in the grounds of the derelict house, must have seen the cars pass; he probably thought that he was now provided an opportunity to escape, sohe broke cover and ran across Raby Street into the northern limb of Westwood Street.Whether he had been spotted before that, and if so by whom, is unclear but someone in those cars did spothim then, because both cars immediately turned around, to follow him.
I have no doubt that the defendants took his presence in the area to be a deliberate incursion into their territory, which they interpreted as an insult, a challenge and probably also as a threat; they decided to punish him and to deter others from doing likewise.
A minute or two later, the Astra and the Corsa returned to the assembly point in Westwood Street, presumably having lost sight of their target.The Corsa stopped at the junction of Westwood Street with Raby Street; Reano Walters got out of the car and ran off, in the direction of Raby Street.The Astra drove up fast, Delroy Wright got out and also ran off down Raby Street.
The defendants split up, I am sure that they did so to increase the chances of spotting their prey. At the same time, there was a call to arms in Westwood Street. Durrell Goodall, S, Devonte Cantrill, Trey Wilson, Durrell Ford, in that order, moved off more or less together, walking at first but then breaking into a run.
Ipoint out that Devonte Cantrill had come to Westwood Street wearing a shoulder bag; Sdid not.
Durrell Goodall and Devonte Cantrill ran down the narrow alleyway which led onto Barnshill Street; Sfollowed.
After them came William George, on his pedal bike; I have no doubt that he then joined the search, acting as a scout. Gang members on bikes are faster than those on foot and more manoeuvrable than those incars and so perform a valuable - indeed vital - function in searches.
After a few minutes, Durrell Goodall emerged from the alleyway, onto Westwood Street, turned and vaulted over the low wall into the garden of the deserted house, plainly intending to search there. He was followed by S, who did the same but by this time he (S) had a bag slung over his shoulder. Then Reano Walters also emerged from the alley way on foot; followed by William George on his bike.
William George cycled off, across Raby Street and onto the northern limb of Westwood Street. Reano Walters walked off down the alleyway.
A few minutes later, CCTV from a passing bus showed that Abdul Hafidah came out from behind another hiding place, the advertising hoarding on Moss Lane East; he crossed the road and ran off down the pavement.
Some of the defendants then returned to their rallying point on Westwood Street; Trey Wilson came back; Durrell Ford came back with Devonte Cantrill, now without his shoulder bag. Sthen handed the bag back to Devonte Cantrill. Cantrill has a previous conviction for possessing a bladed article, which he had concealed in a shoulder bag; I have no doubt that Devonte Cantrill had handedhis bag to S, with a direction that he was to fetch a knife, and hand the bag, concealing the knife, back to him; S did as he was told.
I need not describe the precise directions in which they ran off for the second time but again they deliberately set off in different directions, so as to cover the ground more effectively, and to prevent Abdul Hafidah making off without being seen.
William George went up to Moss Lane East to scout there.
There is no further CCTV until the chase reached the junction of Moss Lane East with the Princess Parkway, but there was evidence from a number of the eye witnesses, who describe the chase down Moss Lane East; several saw that Abdul Hafidah had a knife himself, but a number of the witnesses say that at least one of the pursuers had a hammer and some say that another had a knife. Many then called the police, fearful even then that the chase would end in serious violence. Abdul Hafidah himself asked a passer-by to call the police; a gang member, such as Abdul Hafidah, would not turnto the police for help unless he felt himself to be in danger of really serious injury. Those in the chase at that time who were convicted of murder must have realised that some of their number were armed with deadly weapons and that those weapons would be used upon Abdul Hafidah once he was caught to cause some really serious injury.
The next CCTV footage is from a camera on the Bridgewater Hospital, whichis on the corner of Moss Lane East and Princess Parkway (which is shown on the various maps).
Delroy Wright had by then overtaken Abdul Wahab Hafidah;he can be seen on the CCTV bouncing and bobbing from one foot to the other, like a light-footed boxer, as he was trying to head him off; Durrell Ford, in close support,just behind. They all ran across the Princess Parkway, dangerously weaving through the rush-hour traffic.William George, followed on his cycle.
Abdul Hafidah, by now realising that he was in mortal peril, tried to open the door of a passing car, but failed to do so and the car drove off.
As they entered the other side of Moss Lane East, William George on his bike overtook the other two, so as to be leading the chase; he got off his bike, and confronted Abdul Hafidah; he claimed that this was how a smear of Hafidah’s blood was deposited on his sleeve, which is just possible if Abdul Hafidah was bleeding at this time having to hold his own knife by the blade, because the handle had broken or was breaking. I am sure, however, that most of the injuries to his hand were later defensive injuries, caused as he tried to ward of strikes by one or more knifes.
Then Delroy Wright came up and threw a hammer at Abdul Hafidah; he missed, the hammer landed in the car park of the hospital, from which it was recovered; the hammer had DNA from both Delroy Wright and Durrell Ford, upon it; both had therefore touched it; one of the witnessessaw the hammer being passed by one participant to another.
The pursuit down Moss Lane East continued after they had all crossed the Princess Parkway; Abdul Hafidah tried to get into another passing car; again, he failed. By now, probably exhausted, he was cornered; and there was another confrontation with Delroy Wright, Durrell Ford; they soon were joined by others, including Reano Walters, Trey Wilson and Durrell Goodall; this can just be seen as they went out of shot on cameras 11 and 12.
Trey Wilson had in the meantime picked up a broken umbrella from the street; he must have intended to use it as a weapon, although it was only flimsy and not in itself a deadly weapon.
This is where the blood trail started: Abdul Hafidah being severely cut on the right hand, as he tried to fend off an attack upon him by a knife; it is not possible to say who wielded that knife, but use of a deadly weapon was plainly intended by those convicted of murder.
Abdul Hafidah approached a third passing car, grappling with the door handle as he tried again to escape, again he failed; as he did so he told the driver that they were going to kill him; that was obvious to him and I am sure that it was obvious to those who were about to attack him yet again.
The Corsa, driven by Nathaniel Williams was following very close behind; it sped past this struggle, then it did a U-turn in the road, to drive back towards Abdul Hafidah, who was struck by the wing mirror, and knocked down; there were blood stains on the car, caused by Abdul Hafidah’s badly bleeding hand as he slipped down the side of the car onto the road way. Nathaniel Williams drove on without stopping; he then did another U turn to return to the scene, whether he intended to have another pass at the victim or whether he was just returning to act as the get-away driver is not clear; but he did not in fact drive at the victim again.
There is the evidence from some of the eye witnesses to what followed. Hafidah tried to get up from the ground but he was punched and knocked down again, where he was kicked and even stamped upon; the pathologist found numerous bruises and abrasions and several ‘patterned’ marks, characteristic of the imprint left by footwear after kicks or stamps. Several eye witnesses describe how a number of young men joined in; I find that those who did so were Delroy Wright and Durrell Ford who were always at the forefront of the chase; I think that the verdicts of the jury must have been on the basis that Reano Walters, Trey Wilson also joined in (it is possible that Durrell Goodall did not; I will consider the evidence bearing on his role later); the combined effect of this last assault was to leave Abdul Hafidah lying unconscious in the roadway. Then Devonte Cantrill came up, with his knife, and quite deliberately, as described by at least one eye witness, he aimed and directed two knife thrusts to Abdul Hafidah’s neck, which severed his carotid artery, the consequent blood loss, caused brain damage, cardiac arrest and death. All this happened in the view of many shocked and horrified on-lookers.