Gangster guilty of murder after rapper shot in the face outside pizza restaurant

19 January 2024 , 16:24

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Craig Small who was shot on July 5 last year (Image: central news)

A man has been found guilty of murdering a successful rapper who was shot in the face outside a pizza restaurant.

Craig Small, 32, who went by the nickname "Smallz", was a rival gang member and musician who had featured in a music video. Following an Old Bailey retrial, Courtney Ellis was found guilty of murder and attempted murder on Friday and was also convicted of perverting the course of justice alongside Christopher Kyei — both were said to be associated with a gang that operated in north-west London.

Mr Small was standing outside a pizza restaurant in Wembley, north-west London, when a gunman in dark clothes and a face mask ran towards him on the evening of July 5th 2019. Prosecutor Anthony Orchard QC had told jurors that the man fired the "handgun once at Craig Small's face" from less than a metre away. He said the bullet struck Mr Small on the right cheek and the force made him fall to the ground. The gunman then stepped away from the victim, before "moving nearer and discharging a second shot." That bullet missed and hit the pavement, sending a fragment into Mr Small's left eye, the court heard. He was rushed to St Mary's Hospital in Paddington where he died an hour after being shot.

Kwasi Mensah-Ababio (CENTRAL NEWS)

The gunman ran off and got into a waiting Mini with cloned registration plates. Seven minutes after the first shooting, the gunman got out of the Mini and ran towards a white Mercedes containing Mr Mukendi, which was parked a mile-and-a-half away. He appeared to shoot towards the front windscreen but the gun "misfired" and no bullet was discharged. The gunman then sped off in the blue Mini before transferring to a black Volvo at a pre-arranged pick-up point. The following day, two men, using a flat-bed pick-up truck, removed the Mini and arranged for its disposal, jurors were told. The gunman, who has not been named by police, is still at large, Mr Orchard said.

Ellis, 38, from Brentford, west London, was "almost certainly" the driver of the Mini and helped to dispose of the car, jurors were told. The other defendant, Kyei, 37, from Radlett, Hertfordshire, helped to dispose of the Mini, it was alleged. The defendants denied the charges against them saying they were not involved in the murder although they declined to name those who were. The defendants embraced in the dock following the verdicts.

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Judge Philip Katz KC adjourned sentencing until a date to be fixed. Following an earlier trial in 2022, Aaron Youngsam, 32, from Willesden, north-west London, was cleared of murder and attempted murder and Horraine Nicholas, 34, of Downs Road, Luton, was acquitted of perverting the course of justice.

Rachel Hagan