Men accused of gunning down rapper traced to Telford by their mobile phones
The men accused of murdering a rapper outside a Telford gym in 2020, were traced to the town on the days and weeks leading up to the killing, by their mobile phones, a court has heard.
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Tamba Momodu, 20, known as Teerose, was shot six times at point-blank range in October 2020 outside a gym in Telford.
Prosecutors allege Mr Momodu was “stalked” and tracked down by the older brother and cousin of 19-year-old Abdullahi Tarabi, who Mr Momodu had been acquitted of killing in 2017.
Mahamud Tarabi, 32, and Ahmed Karshe, 30, are both on trial for Mr Momodu’s murder, alongside two other men: Deria Hassan, 32, and Merje Ngoy, 24.
On Friday, Stafford Crown Court heard from “cell site expert”, Martin Griffiths.
Mr Griffiths explained to the jury how mobile phones are tracked and their location found using cell towers.
He said he had been asked by the police to confirm the locations of the phones of Tarabi and Karshe on the lead up to the murder by West Mercia Police.
He told the jury he was able to show their mobile phones had travelled to Telford on multiple occasions – including to “an area that includes the Fitness Factory Gym”.
Mr Griffiths said he was asked by police to locate the men's phones on 35 occasions from September 2 until the day of the fatal shooing on October 13.
Earlier in the trial, the court had heard from a West Mercia Police forensic analyst who explained to the jury how the movements of the men's mobile phones was combined with CCTV footage and ANPR cameras taken taken from various locations such at petrol stations that confirmed the identity of the men and the cars they were travelling in.
The jury heard how the men travelled to Telford on more than 16 occasions before the shooting, visiting not only the gym where Mr Momodu was shot but also areas that included the Forest Glen car park at The Wrekin where the Skoda the men are alleged to have used was found burnt out, as well as Wellington Road, Horsehay, which was used as a place to leave the car before the murder.
Eleven of those trips were described by the prosecution as "reconnaissance" and four were unsuccessful attempts to carry out the killing, with the final time the day of Mr Momodu's murder.
Karshe, of no fixed address, Hassan, of Ferrymead Avenue in Greenford, London, Tarabi, of Whiteleys Parade in Hillingdon, London, and Ngoy, of no fixed address, all deny murder.
The trial continues.
