A London drill rapper boasted in a music video that a man shot dead outside a birthday party was killed using the same firearm used on the victim’s brother two years prior, a court has heard.
Kacey Boothe, 25, was shot and killed outside a child’s birthday party at Peterhouse Community Centre in Walthamstow on August 13, 2022.
The intended target was understood to be Khalid Samanter, a close friend of Mr Boothe’s and the father of the child whose birthday it was.
The Old Bailey heard that Mr Boothe had just got into his car at around 9.20pm when he was fatally shot during a “well-planned and carefully orchestrated attack” involving six men.
The violent episode was a gang-on-gang attack between the E9’ers and the London Fields gang. Mr Boothe and Mr Samanter were both members of the London Fields.
Jurors were told that the same firearm was used on seven occasions between 2020 and the day of Mr Boothe’s shooting.
Mr Boothe’s older brother Kyle was shot on August 1, 2020 by the same weapon, and survived.
Jurors heard that rapper Kamar Henry-Richards, 25, known by the stage name Kay-O, allegedly taunted the London Fields gang about the shooting in a music video for the song Kay-O Laughing Stock on September 1 2022.
The lyrics of the song read: “Big Boothe and Little got hit, same Sig, that’s a sour family. Both got slapped at functions, neck and head, handguns come handy.”
In this context “sig” is said to refer to a gun.
In another version of the song, the lyrics read: “Big Boothe shoulda lurked, got his neck back ripped. Lil’ got burst, shoulda bin with his.”
Prosecutor Anthony Orchard KC told the jury: “A boast was being made that the same ‘Sig’ (gun) had been used to shoot both Kacey Boothe and his elder brother Kyle Boothe. This fact was known only to those involved in the shootings and not to the police at that time.”
Mr Orchard added: “The prosecution case is that these defendants had conspired together and with others unknown to kill Mr Samanter. On the second occasion, when Mr Samanter wasn’t available, Kacey Boothe was shot dead.
“The prosecution case is each of these defendants were party to the conspiracy to kill Mr Samanter. They also intended that should Samanter not be an available target, then another London Fields associate, in this case Kacey Boothe, should be shot. Each assisted and encouraged the gunman in the execution of that plan.”
Henry-Richards, Kadeem Brightly-Barnes, 31, his half-brother Kamani Brightly-Donaldson, 23, Jeffrey Gyimah, 21, Joao Pateco-Te, 26, and Roody Thomas, 26, deny murdering of Mr Boothe, conspiracy to murder Mr Samanter and conspiracy to possess a firearm or firearms with intent to endanger life.
Brightly-Donaldson and Gyimah also deny possession of a prohibited firearm. Gyimah and Thomas deny possession of class A drugs with intent to supply. The trial continues.
