A 14 year old west London teenager has been convicted for a £2,000 drug debt killing, in a grim reminder of the dangers of drug dealing.
The boy who cannot be named for legal reasons awaits sentencing from the judge, who it is hoped will lift the section 39 law that prevents disclosing details and identities of legally protected individuals, particularly those under age.
Yesterday, Wednesday, the Old Bailey cleared a group of youths of murder but pronounced a verdict of manslaughter for the killing of 21 year old Haile Langa. The conviction is one of a series of guilty verdicts delivered by Judges for killings in the KIlburn/Harlesden area of North West London.
Despite the several drugs related killings in the capital, many London youths continue to sign up to a life of drug dealing , this seen as a fast track to making money. 19 year old Imani Farjani of Unity close and 20 year old Ahmed El Sayed of waiting gardens were both cleared of murder. Langa had expressed fear for his life in a series of Whatsapp messages to his girlfriend. One message read: ”I’m either going to get rich or die trying. Today I am on my last legs. They know everywhere I can go. They’re coming after my family, I do everything for them and now I have nothing left. I’m going to make headlines today”.
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The message sadly reveals a foreknowledge of his death because of the people he was dealing with. Despite fears for his life, Mr.Langa entered a Mercedes Benz driven by Farjani to the Waitling gardens Estate where they parked at a car park entrance nearby. The car was capture by CCTV cameras as it reversed with speed into the car park. Whilst in the car park, Mr Langa was stabbed but managed to flee the scene before collapsing on a grass. The killing is not the first and won’t be the last warning of the serious dangers of drug dealing, particularly in the light of the unpredictable robberies that accompany one of the most coveted trades on the streets of Britain.
Most alarming is the fact the predictable consequences of the victim’s debt was not sufficient to urge him to abscond from the area completely. His message to his girlfriend that they know where he goes should not have prevented him from changing his movements. He was unable to find away to avoid engagement altogether with his drug circle of friends in order to keep his life. The fact he feared that his enemies shows just how callous and inhumane many street dealers can be that they would hurt others who have no involvement in their grievance. The drug trade is surely one of the most dangerous, if not the most dangerous to get involve with. Participants are robbed of any standards of morality, and there is no certainty they will live to enjoy the money they hope to make.The practice is awash with an unregulated level of competition, disorder, servitude, unjustified boasting based on making a life of a misery for vulnerable addicts. The prospect of violence is imminent for many of those in the front line, and the big boys behind the scene. Every dealer with some money thinks they have arrived, even though reality is that their end may be just round the corner.
They get their inspiration from the fast cars and bling bling possessed by other youths in the area, and the attention they get from their peers, instead of aspiring to success through some other means. ‘If those guys can make it, so can I’, comes the careless evaluation. Whereas those other guys who still possess breath in their nostrils may be lucky guys or guys who played their cards differently to still be alive. Their end may be round the corner too, a few years down the line, or jail. Everybody is dealt different cards, depending on the path they take.
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Pic: by metropolitan police
