A man killed his girlfriend in a car, drove her body around and then confessed to his brother hours later, a court has heard. Kennedi Westcarr-Sabaroche, 25, was found dead in the Vauxhall vehicle in Whiston Road, Hackney, east London, on April 6 last year.
Her boyfriend, Gogoa Tape, 28, who lived in the street where she was found, was subsequently arrested. Tape has admitted manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility and having a bladed article in a public place.
Tape killed his girlfriend at about 11.25pm on April 5 2024, and her death was caused by “manual compression to the neck”, Julia Faure-Walker, prosecuting, told Inner London Crown Court.
She said: “There were also blunt force injuries consistent with his punching her several times and incised wounds to her hands consistent with defending herself from a knife attack. The defendant had brought a kitchen knife with him.”
After the killing, Tape moved Ms Westcarr-Sabaroche from the driver’s seat to the passenger seat and buckled the seat belt, then drove away “so the neighbours would not see” and continued to drive around the area, the court heard. For nearly two hours, “with the deceased in the passenger seat, he drove around the local area, bought cigarettes, sent a message from her phone to a friend of hers, then returned to Talavera Place a few times”, the prosecution said.
He sent a message from Ms Westcarr-Sabaroche’s phone to her friend pretending to be her, then about six-and-a-half hours after the killing, he confessed to his brother what he had done, the prosecution said.
His brother was woken at about 6am and the defendant told him “I killed Kennedi bro”, the court heard. His brother went to check the vehicle, returned and called the police. The defendant was arrested and later made no comment to nearly all questions in interview, the court heard.
Psychiatrists agree he was suffering from “paranoid and persecutory delusions arising from schizophrenia at the time of the killing”, Ms Faure-Walker said. The court heard the defendant had smoked cannabis since 2014 and had some contact with mental health services in 2023 and was “warned to abstain, but would smoke cannabis afterwards”.
In April 2023, he was seen in A&E and it was noted he had described “dark thoughts that had been going on for a number of weeks”, and reports these thoughts “were around harming others in the context of self-defence”.
In December 2023, Tape told his GP he was no longer experiencing paranoia and later admitted to cannabis use in the second half of 2023 and early 2024, the prosecution said. In March 2024, Ms Westcarr-Sabaroche was accused by the defendant of sleeping with others.
She told her cousin she found a letter from Tape which “said something about wanting to kill her and (her mother) Linda”, and when confronted by Ms Westcarr-Sabaroche, he said he did not mean it, the court heard.
On April 5 last year, the defendant was picked up by Ms Westcarr-Sabaroche and she drove to Talavera Place, where she was killed, the court heard.
CCTV was played to the court which showed the defendant as he got out of the car, walked to the driver’s door, then “bent forward and lunged into the car, remaining there for about eight minutes”, the prosecution said.
Ms Faure-Walker said Ms Westcarr-Sabaroche must have suffered from sharp force injuries from the knife while she was still conscious, and there must have been a “consistent period of strangulation”.
Tape’s brother said he was woken, likely around 6am, by the defendant who was “panicking and talking fast”, Ms Faure-Walker said, adding Tape told his brother he had “f***** up” and said “I killed Kennedi bro” and that he had “murdered Kennedi”.
After he was detained, Tape told officers “I lost my head, I’ve been losing my head the last two or three years”, the court heard.
About 60 of Ms Westcarr-Sabaroche’s family members were in the court for the sentencing, some read victim impact statements at the start while others wiped tears while listening.
Linda Westcarr, Ms Westcarr-Sabaroche’s mother, said she was “not just my daughter, she was a mother, a sister, she was a cousin, a granddaughter, a niece and a colleague, but above all she was our friend”. She added that Ms Westcarr-Sabaroche had met the King on two occasions through the Prince’s Trust.
Ms Westcarr said: “My daughter Kennedi was brutally taken from us by someone she trusted, someone we welcomed into our home and trusted like family.”
Of Ms Westcarr-Sabaroche’s daughter, she said: “She talks about her mummy making pasta with a smile, these small memories are all she has left, she still asks for her mummy… she asks questions that no child should ever have to ask.”
Ms Westcarr added: “This wasn’t just one life lost, it was a family shattered.” Danielle Westcarr-Jourdan said losing her sister has been “catastrophic”.
She said Ms Westcarr-Sabaroche’s presence “lit up any room” and her “absence isn’t just felt, it haunts”. Ms Westcarr-Jourdan said: “The violent way her life was taken has left us with pain that cannot be measured. Kennedi deserved protecting in life and she deserves justice in death.”
The sentencing continues.
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