Aderahman Boumzough, 25, has been jailed for 35 years for the murder of 15-year-old Rene Graham. Boumzough shot the teenager with a pistol at a family festival in Ladbroke Grove, west London, in July 2024. After shooting Graham, he pointed the gun at a second person, but it jammed and he fled.
Rap video used as evidence
Detectives used phone data and CCTV footage to place Boumzough at the scene. His phone contained a short rap video that appeared to reference the jammed weapon. In the video, shared with Metro by the Metropolitan Police, Boumzough raps: 'Don't you hate it when your ting jams? I was prepared to take a soul, but Allah had a different plan.'
The jury was shown the clip, which showed Boumzough clearly revelling in the retelling of his crime. Sentencing him at Woolwich Crown Court, Judge Simon James said: 'You robbed Rene's family of seeing him grow into a man by your callous and cold-blooded conduct in gunning down and killing a defenceless teenager in what amounted to a premeditated public execution.'
Mother's grief
Rene's mother, Janay John Francis, said: 'I cannot begin to describe the depth of my pain after losing my precious angel.'
This case is one of several where drill rap lyrics and videos have been used by police to bring violent criminals to justice. However, the use of such evidence has become contentious, with campaigners claiming drill rap is wrongly being vilified and overused in court. The group Art Not Evidence has called for restrictions on using music, particularly rap, to implicate people in crimes.
Police defend use of drill rap
Police insist it can be a vital tool and is only gathered as evidence in connection with specific, serious crimes that have already been committed. The Met has used drill rap in several cases where criminals have boasted and given specific details of their crimes in lyrics or videos.
In 2023, Leonardo Reid, 15, and Klevi Shekaj, 23, were killed after a gang wielding machetes ambushed a music shoot in Islington, north London. A third victim, Abdullah Abdullahi, was badly injured. Adel Chunda, Loriq Lupqi, Eden Clark, Jason Furtado and Xavier Poponne were given two life sentences for the murders. The court heard police had found lyrics on Poponne's phone relating to the attack and three stabbings, boasting 'Got me a trio'. The Met said the lyrics 'made references to elements of the attack which could only be known to those involved.'
Leonardo's mother, Valentina Locci, told Metro of her devastation after the lyrics emerged. She said: 'I felt my heart was getting ripped out. The lyrics are very descriptive. What they wrote was cruel, it's insensitive – that's a hard pill to swallow because that's my little boy. That's my 15-year-old boy, and they robbed him of everything. They robbed me, they robbed my other children. We got robbed. There is no excuse for what they did.'
She added: 'He wasn't a boy who was in the streets; he wasn't involved in any form of gang affiliation at all, whatsoever, and he definitely had nothing to do with drill music. He was murdered by adults who had nothing better to do. My son had to witness his little brother die.'
Another case
In a separate case, drill rapper Emmanuel Popoola was jailed for life over the murder of Keanu Harker, 18, in Enfield, north London, following a social media dispute. Tayvon Etefia, 18, who used a high-powered electric bike to deliver Popoola to the crime scene, was also jailed. Keanu was shot dead in June last year, days after Etefia warned in a rap posted online: 'Any green boy gets chinged (stabbed) on sight,' referring to his GMG gang targeting the 3x3 crew to which Keanu allegedly had connections.
Detective Sergeant Matthew Corbin told Metro the evidence from music videos and lyrics like these should continue to be admissible as it had helped crack murder cases and other violent crimes. He said: 'Why would you not put this evidence to a jury? There is a misconception… we do not look online at these videos unless we are investigating a serious crime.'
He said suspects sometimes posted lyrics or drill rap about their crimes to enhance their 'status' among their peers, even though it may lead to them being brought to justice. DS Corbin said: 'They care about their status; that's why they often do it.' He added: 'Evidence from drill rap is just part of the case. There is ANPR (number plate recognition), forensics, CCTV, mobile phone records. The jury needs to be given the full picture.'
