Four men have been convicted in connection with the murder of Kwasi Mensah-Ababio, who was mistakenly thought as someone else and shot dead.

Three of the men at the Old Bailey today (March 23) were convicted of murder, and another convicted of manslaughter, after Kwasi, 26, was shot dead near Monks Park Gardens at Wembley.

Police were called at July 7, 2019, at 7.05pm to reports of a man found unresponsive, where Kwasi was suffering gunshot wounds to the head.

He was pronounced dead at the scene.

A post-mortem examination at Northwick Park Mortuary on July 17 confirmed the cause of death as a gunshot wound to the head.

A murder investigation was launched by homicide detectives led by Detective Chief Inspector Neil John.

The investigation found that one defendant, Rene Montaque, was seeking vengeance at the time of the shooting for the murder of his close friend Craig Smalls allegedly by a rival gang, just two days previously.

Craig was shot at Harrow Road on July 5 at 8.10pm, and two males have been charged with his murder.

Harrow Times:

Craig Smalls was also victim of gun crime as he was shot two days before, (Photo: Met Police)

The four defendants for the Kwasi case were seen on CCTV entering the park where Kwasi was sitting with a soft drink.

Kwasi was mistakenly thought to be someone else who was responsible for the death of Craig Smalls, and they shot him point blank, in the head.

Detective Chief Inspector Neil John said: “Kwasi’s death has left a family devastated. He was coldly executed by the four defendants who didn’t bother to establish who he was.

“This needless, senseless and completely pointless loss of life will cost the defendants the best years of their own futures – something for them to reflect on as they are taken back to prison.

“Although nothing can bring Kwasi back, I sincerely hope that his family feel that justice has been done.”

In a family impact statement to the court, Kwasi’s sister said: “Kwasi was a boss, he was hard working and always willing to help whether it be helping me with big brother things like killing spiders in my room or being the voice of reason in our household.

“He was wildly intelligent and he taught me so much about being humble and gracious always. He was naturally sweet natured and sympathetic but he was also protective of his family.

“He was 26 at the time of his death and he had so much success to look forward to. Kwasi was never involved in gangs or crime at all and not one person in this world could have predicted the amount of violence that would be carried out towards him on 7 July 2019.

“If something of this nature happened to any of the defendants, if we’re being honest most people would be sad but to say they would be shocked would be a lie, this is the life they choose to participate in and these are some of the consequences.

“We have sat in court and listened to them try to re-fix their stories to make it sound like they had nothing to do with what happened that day, but all of their actions played a part in the killing of my brother regardless of who pulled the trigger.

“No amount of time is going to stop the pain that we had to endure throughout this period, no amount of time is going to rid the guilt that we all feel individually for various things on that day even though it wasn’t our fault.

“My right hand is no longer here, my children will never have immediate cousins, my children will only know pictures of their uncle, my parents will never see their only son grow up to have a family and these are things that will never hurt any less.

“We have to walk past the area that all of this happened frequently and it is so difficult, even though it’s been month’s it’s impossible to not think about what happened as we walk past and go about our daily lives. The whole area is a trigger for horrendous memories. It is always with us, every second of every day.”

The people convicted of murder were:

  • Alhassan Jalloh, 21, of Stonebridge Park
  • Karlos Garcia, 23,of Stonebridge Park
  • Rene Montaque, 35, of Edgware

Taalib Rowe, 25, of Luton was convicted on manslaughter.

All will be sentenced at a later date.