A man has been convicted of the murder of 23-year-old Yahye Ahmed in Islington after detectives meticulously trawled through CCTV footage and phone data to place him at the scene.
Ibrahim Elkadmiri, 31, of Axminster Road, N7, was found guilty of murder at Woolwich Crown Court on Monday, July 29. Alongside him, Ahmed Abdi Ahmed, 34, of Waldegrave Road, N8, was convicted of assisting an offender. Both men are remanded in custody and will be sentenced on Wednesday, September 25.
The court heard that on August 30, 2023, Yahye Ahmed was with friends outside a café on Axminster Road when he spotted Elkadmiri walking by. Ahmed armed himself with a baseball bat and followed him.
Detective Sergeant Devan Taylor of the Met’s Specialist Crime Command stated, “Despite an extensive investigation, we may never know what the dispute was between the victim and Elkadmiri, but we do know that the confrontation was violent in the extreme and ended a young man’s life.”
CCTV footage showed the victim following Elkadmiri with a baseball bat. Though the confrontation occurred off-camera, eyewitness testimony and dash-cam footage confirmed that Elkadmiri produced a large knife from his waistband and stabbed Yahye five times.
Yahye’s friends, who were running toward the confrontation, stopped when they saw Elkadmiri holding the knife and the baseball bat, leaving Yahye on the ground. Elkadmiri then fled the scene, discarding the baseball bat in a wheelie bin, which was later recovered by officers.
Emergency services, including a passing ambulance, responded, but Yahye succumbed to his injuries and died at the scene.
Further CCTV analysis revealed Elkadmiri making four calls to the same number after the incident. These calls were to Ahmed Abdi Ahmed, who then picked him up in his BMW from Hermitage Road in Tottenham. Mobile phone cell site data corroborated their movements, showing the phones travelling together to a friend’s address where Elkadmiri would hide.
Ahmed’s BMW’s on-board computer confirmed his movements, including a trip to a sports shop in Wood Green where he bought a grey tracksuit. Officers later found the receipt for this purchase at the address where Elkadmiri was hiding. CCTV footage also captured Elkadmiri wearing the grey tracksuit and disposing of a carrier bag containing the clothes he wore during the murder.
DS Taylor commented, “Elkadmiri, with the support of Ahmed, did everything he could to get away with murder. His efforts to cover his tracks were not enough. He was arrested on September 3, and Ahmed was arrested on September 4, claiming ignorance of the stabbing despite picking up Elkadmiri.”
“I am pleased that the jury were able to see through the accounts given by the defendants. This case clearly highlights the consequences of carrying weapons and using them in violent crime. There is nothing that can bring Yahye back to his family, but I hope that the verdicts handed down bring them a measure of peace in knowing that justice has been done.”
