A Barking drug dealer has been jailed for life with a minimum of 23 years for murdering a teenager in a gang-related revenge attack.
Adebayo Amusa, 23, of Sovereign Road, Barking, was among five people to be jailed over the death of Tavis Spencer-Aitkens, who was killed in June last year.
Judge Martyn Levett said they had “hunted down” and killed 17-year-old Tavis who was targeted in a pre-mediated gang related revenge attack.
He said Tavis was chased by at least five people who captured him, held him down and stabbed him not less than 15 times leaving him “mortally wounded” and stumbling to a tree outside his father’s home in Ipswich.
The judge said the attack could only have lasted between 10-30 seconds and the fact that so many wounds were inflicted in such a short space of time indicated that more than one knife was used and at least two people had inflicted them.
“As a final insult a bottle was smashed on Tavis’s head,” said the judge.
“I am sure this was a planned ferocious attack using weapons in a defenceless young man,” he added.
He said that when the driver of a van who drove the defendant’s to the scene of the killing asked what it was all about he was told it was “gang s***”, it’s AM” meaning attempted murder.
He said the driver, who was cleared of being involved in the murder, had later said of the occupants: “No-one seemed worried, no-one said they didn’t want to be there, no-one said it was dreadful.
“They were proud of what they’d done and were jubilant about it afterwards and appeared to be proud and pleased.”
Judge Levett said a neighbour who saw what happened had told the court: “The group piled on top of Tavis, they laid on top of him and what looked like punching and thumping him and another was holding him down so he couldn’t move.
“He was being held down. He was helpless. It was all very quick. One male was about to walk away but he turned back and whacked Tavis on the head with a wine bottle. The bottle impacted on the right side of Tavis’s head and exploded.”
The judge said another witness overheard one of the makes say: “We’ve got the big one or we’re going to wait for the big one.”
As the sentences were handed down members of Tavis’s family applauded and shouted “scum” and “cowards”.
Along with Amusa, Aristote Yenge, 23, of Spring Road, Ipswich, Kyreis Davies, 17, of Turnstile Square, Colchester, and Isaac Calver, 18, of Firmin Close, Ipswich were all convicted of murder last month after a four-month trial.
Yenge must serve a minimum of 25 years while Davies and Calver must serve at least 21 years each.
A fifth defendant, Callum Plaats, 23, of Ipswich, was convicted of manslaughter and he was jailed for 14 years.
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