Man who killed girlfriend in car then drove her around in passenger seat gets hospital order

A man who killed his partner in a car and drove her body around before confessing to his brother hours later has been sentenced to a hospital order under which he can be detained indefinitely. 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 Lois Tape, 28, who lived in the street where she was found, was arrested and subsequently admitted manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility and having a bladed article in a public place.

About 40 of Ms Westcarr-Sabaroche’s loved ones sat in the well of the court on Monday as Tape was sentenced to a hospital order under Section 37 of the Mental Health Act with a restriction order under Section 41.

Judge Freya Newbery referenced the victim impact statements Ms Westcarr-Sabaroche’s mother and sisters made previously, telling the court: “She was a bright and beautiful young woman, I heard, and still only 25 and killed by you just three weeks before your daughter’s – her daughter’s – second birthday.

“That daughter – her daughter and your daughter – is left motherless and the victim of what you did, not just at the time, but she has to carry that around with her, her whole life – her father killed her mother.

“The family is, I learned, and it is obvious, left shattered and broken.”

Tape killed his girlfriend at about 11.25pm on April 5 2024, and her death was caused by “manual compression to the neck”, prosecutor Julia Faure-Walker told Inner London Crown Court previously.

She also suffered blunt force injuries consistent with being punched several times and wounds to her hands consistent with defending herself from a knife attack.

After the killing, Tape moved Ms Westcarr-Sabaroche from the driver’s seat to the passenger seat and buckled the seat belt, drove away “so the neighbours would not see”, bought cigarettes and sent a message from her phone to a friend of hers pretending to be her.

About six and a half hours after the killing, he confessed to his brother who was woken at about 6am to the defendant telling him, “I killed Kennedi, bro”.

After he was detained, Tape told officers: “I lost my head, I’ve been losing my head the last two or three years.”

Judge Newbery said he was at the time an “undiagnosed schizophrenic” who held “paranoid and persecutory delusions which substantially impaired your judgment and your exercise of self control”

Tape and Ms Westcarr-Sabaroche met when they were teenagers in college about 10 years ago.

It became apparent that the defendant’s mental health had declined from 2023, with Tape becoming paranoid and then jealous, the court heard.

He had some contact with mental health services that year and was warned to abstain from cannabis, which he had smoked since 2014.

Linda Westcarr, Ms Westcarr-Sabaroche’s mother, previously told the court: “My daughter Kennedi was brutally taken from us by someone she trusted, someone we welcomed into our home and trusted like family.”

She said her granddaughter “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.”

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