Romford teen Kadjo Kadio not guilty of murder, jury finds

A young man from Romford has been found not guilty in connection with the murder of Jeremiah Sewell in south London.

Godfrey Madondo, 20, from Peckham, killed 19-year-old Jeremiah following a “chance meeting” in Beckenham Place Park early on July 16 last year.

However, Kadjo Kadio, 19, from Romford, was cleared of murder and an alternative offence of manslaughter.

Prosecutor Alan Kent KC had told jurors the motive for the murder “appears to be simply because the deceased came from Beckenham” and Madondo and his friends were from Peckham.

Mr Kent said: “It was a chance meeting, in the early hours of the morning, in an otherwise deserted car park in the middle of a public park.”

After the murder, Khelsi Johnson-Davies and Leah Simmonds together cleaned and threw away Madondo’s bloodstained clothes, the court heard.

A jury at the Old Bailey deliberated for five hours to find Madondo guilty of murder on Tuesday (July 4).

Johnson-Davies, 20, was found guilty of perverting the course of justice. Simmonds, 20, had admitted the charge.

During the trial, the court had heard how Jeremiah met with friends on Friday, July 15 last year at a home music studio, then into the early hours of Saturday, July 16 they drove around in their cars.  

They eventually parked in the car park and sat around listening to music and chatting, Mr Kent said. 

 “At about 4.25am that morning fate had it that the defendants, the three of them, arrived in a black coloured Vauxhall Astra,” Mr Kent said. 

Jeremiah’s group recognised Kadio, who was sitting in the back seat while Johnson-Davies was also in the car, the court heard.

Mr Kent told the jury that Jeremiah used to be friends with Kadio but they had a falling out. 

The driver of Jeremiah’s car drove next to the Astra, the court heard. Kadio then got out the Astra and approached the back seat of the other car where Jeremiah was sitting with the window down, Mr Kent said. 

Madondo, who was wearing a balaclava, then also got out the Astra and approached Jeremiah’s car, it is alleged. 

“Someone from the victim’s group heard a question, a simple question asked of Jeremiah Sewell. What end’s you with? In other words, where you from?” Mr Kent said. 

“Jeremiah Sewell replied I’m a B-boy, meaning Beckenham. Within seconds of saying I’m a B-boy he was stabbed twice in the neck.” 

Madondo fled the scene but was arrested the next day and declined to answer questions in a police interview.

Johnson-Davies was arrested at her Peckham home on July 19, and a grey balaclava with Madondo’s DNA on it was seized.

An examination of her phone led to “incriminating” conversations with Simmonds in which she advised her to wash Madondo’s bloodstained clothes at “90 degrees”.

Following Simmonds’ arrest, communal bins near her home in Dulwich, south London, were searched and a bin bag containing Madondo’s grey hoodie and jogging bottoms was recovered.

Following the verdicts, Judge Nigel Lickley KC remanded Madondo into custody and warned he faced a life sentence when he returned to court on Friday.

He adjourned sentencing the two women to a date to be fixed in August and granted Johnson-Davies conditional bail.

Reporting by PA.