Get you up to speed: Drill rapper jailed after boasting about murder in music video | News UK
Aderahman Boumzough shot 15-year-old Rene Graham at a family festival in Ladbroke Grove, resulting in the boy’s death. Boumzough was subsequently sentenced to 35 years in prison at Woolwich Crown Court after detectives located him using phone data and CCTV footage.
Aderahman Boumzough was convicted and sentenced to 35 years in prison at Woolwich Crown Court following a murder trial, with evidence including phone data and CCTV footage. The murder squad detectives conducted a thorough investigation, utilising various types of evidence such as mobile phone records and forensic analysis.
WTXpolitan Police have defended the use of drill rap as evidence, asserting it plays a critical role in cases involving serious crimes and is gathered in connection with specific incidents. The group Art Not Evidence has called for restrictions on such evidence to avoid misrepresentation, highlighting ongoing debates about its role in criminal proceedings.
What remains unclear — It is not specified how many incidents involving drill music as evidence have been contested or how often such evidence is applied in cases.
Drill rapper Aderahman Boumzough sentenced to 35 years for murder of 15-year-old
Aderahman Boumzough shot Rene Graham, 15, with a pistol at a family festival in Ladbroke Grove.
The 25-year-old ‘cold-blooded’ killer murdered the boy before pointing the gun at a second person, but it jammed and he fled the scene.
He was hunted down by murder squad detectives and jailed for 35 years by a judge at Woolwich Crown Court.
Evidence used in the case included phone data and CCTV footage placing him at the scene of the murder in July 2024.
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The jury was shown the clip, which shows Boumzough clearly revelling in the retelling of his crime.
Addressing the killer, the sentencing judge Simon James said: ‘You robbed Rene’s family of seeing him grow into a man by your callous and cold-blooded conduct in gunning down and killing a defenceless teenager in what amounted to a premeditated public execution.’
The teenager’s mother, Janay John Francis, said: ‘I cannot begin to describe the depth of my pain after losing my precious angel.’
However, the use of such evidence has become contentious, with campaigners claiming drill rap is wrongly being vilified and is overused as evidence in the courtroom.
The group Art Not Evidence has called for a restriction on the use of music, particularly rap, to implicate people in crimes. However, police insist it can be a vital tool and is only gathered as evidence in connection with specific, serious crimes which have already been committed.
Leonardo Reid, 15, and Klevi Shekaj, 23, were killed after a gang wielding machetes ambushed a music shoot in Islington, north London, in 2023. A third victim, Abdullah Abdullahi, was badly injured in the attack.
Adel Chunda, Loriq Lupqi, Eden Clark, Jason Furtado and Xavier Poponne were given two life sentences for the murder.
The court heard how police had found lyrics on Poponne’s phone relating to the attack and three stabbings boasting ‘Got me a trio’.
The Met said the lyrics found ‘made references to elements of the attack which could only be known to those involved.’
Leonardo’s mother, Valentina Locci, told WTX of her devastation after the lyrics boasting of the killings emerged.
She said: ‘I felt my heart was getting ripped out.
‘The lyrics are very descriptive. What they wrote was cruel, it’s insensitive – that’s a hard pill to swallow because that’s my little boy. That’s my 15-year-old boy, and they robbed him of everything.
‘They robbed me, they robbed my other children. We got robbed. There is no excuse for what they did.’
She added: ‘He wasn’t a boy who was in the streets; he wasn’t involved in any form of gang affiliation at all, whatsoever, and he definitely had nothing to do with drill music.
‘He was murdered by adults who had nothing better to do. My son had to witness his little brother die.’
In another case, drill rapper Emmanuel Popoola was jailed for life over the murder of Keanu Harker, 18, in Enfield, north London, following a social media dispute.
Tayvon Etefia, 18, who used a high-powered electric bike to deliver Popoola to the crime scene, was also jailed.
Keanu was shot dead in June last year just days after Etefia warned in a rap posted online: ‘Any green boy gets chinged (stabbed) on sight,’ referring to his GMG gang targeting the 3×3 crew to which Keanu allegedly had connections.
He said: ‘Why would you not put this evidence to a jury?
He said suspects sometimes posted lyrics or drill rap about their crimes to enhance their ‘status’ among their peers, even though it may lead to them being brought to justice.
DS Corbin said: ‘They care about their status; that’s why they often do it.’
He added: ‘Evidence from drill rap is just part of the case. There is ANPR (number plate recognition), forensics, CCTV, mobile phone records. The jury needs to be given the full picture.’