A teenager who fatally shot a man in the back of the neck outside a nightclub after travelling there on a high-powered “super scooter” has been locked up for life.
Tyler Roberts-Emmanuel, 19, killed 30-year-old Shaquille Graham near Silks in Catford, south-east London, in the early hours of last March 10, the Old Bailey had heard.
On Friday, Judge Sarah Plaschkes KC jailed him for life with a minimum term of 28 years for the murder.
The judge noted the defendant was a “confident and outgoing person” and had run his own drug-dealing business selling cannabis for two years.
The degree of “planning and premeditation” before the murder and his attempts to conceal his involvement were aggravating factors in the case, the judge said.
She told Roberts-Emmanuel: “There was no link between you and Shaquille Graham and therefore it is likely you were acting under the direction of others.
“As a teenager you have the capacity to change, you are not fully developed. You have not attained full maturity, you have many positive qualities.
“As you continue to mature, perhaps you may come to realise the full extent of the harm you have caused to others.”
The judge said the murder was committed in Catford town centre with many people present who were “shocked” by what happened.
Natasha Barrow, the victim’s mother, described the “devastation” of losing her only son.
She said: “The heinous and cowardly way he was taken away from us adds poisonous salt to an irreparable wound.”
His father, Norman Harris, said his son was taken away in a “senseless act of violence”
“We gave him life and no one else had the right to take it and him away from us,” he said.
The court had heard how the defendant carried out a “dummy run” hours before setting off from his grandmother’s address in Peckham on a scooter to murder Mr Graham, jurors were told.
Prosecutor Joel Smith KC had said: “When he arrived, he circled the area, apparently looking for a target. He lay in wait opposite the club. Twenty minutes later, he saw Mr Graham and moved.
“He rode directly to Mr Graham, and stopped a few paces away. He got off the scooter, walked to Mr Graham and without pause, shot him through the throat.
“Mr Graham never stood a chance. He collapsed and died immediately.”
The “super scooter” used by the gunman was a Kaabo Wolf Warrior 11, which was the type the defendant had been trying to buy the month before, the court was told.
Although the murder weapon was not recovered, the bullet and casing were said to be typical of a Carlos Arms self-loading pistol.
Days before the shooting, the defendant was caught on CCTV carrying a handgun consistent with the same gun thought to have been used near his grandmother’s address, jurors were told.
Roberts-Emmanuel had denied murder, claiming that a relative, who he only named as “X”, was using the same address as him in Peckham.
In finding Roberts-Emmanuel, of no fixed address, guilty of murder, the jury had concluded he “fabricated” Mr X in an attempt to tailor a defence around the evidence, Judge Plaschkes said.
The court was told the defendant had a “difficult upbringing” and previous convictions for possession of cannabis and driving while unfit.
Mitigating, James Scobie KC said Roberts-Emmanuel lived in a “hopeless twilight zone” and had to fend for himself as a child.
