A UK-based Nigerian, Lekan Akinsoji, and his accomplice, Sundjata Keita, have been sentenced to life imprisonment for the 2017 murder of Ahmed Deen-Jah in East London.
The pair, both aged 27, were convicted of murder on October 9 and sentenced on Friday at the Old Bailey, the Central Criminal Court of England and Wales.
“Lekan Akinsoji, 27, of no fixed address, and Sundjata Keita, 27, of St Margaret’s Court, E12, appeared at the Old Bailey on Friday, 24 October. They both received life sentences,” UK police announced in a statement.
The police further disclosed that “Mr Akinsoji was jailed for a minimum term of 28 years, while Keita received a minimum term of 22 years.”
Kelly Allen, the detective superintendent who led the investigation, said, “I hope the long sentences provide some measure of closure to Ahmed’s family, who have waited almost a decade for justice.”
He added, “Akinsoji and Keita launched a cold-blooded and unprovoked attack. Worse still, they then sought to evade the law—and were able to do so until 2023, when damning forensic evidence came to light.”
The sentencing brings to an end a lengthy investigation that began on April 2, 2017, after Deen-Jah was stabbed during an unprovoked attack in a convenience store near Custom House Station in Newham.
Police said the suspects were initially arrested but later released due to insufficient evidence. However, a 2023 review of the case, aided by new forensic and phone analysis, linked Keita’s phone to the getaway vehicle, which was later found burnt in Epping Forest.
According to investigators, “the court heard how Ahmed’s murder was a result of ‘tit-for-tat’ violence between gangs and that both men had been driving around the area in a stolen car, looking for people they suspected of being in a rival gang.”
It added, “CCTV played in court showed Akinsoji ambushing Ahmed and following him into the shop before stabbing him.”
