Man 'shot cousin dead with sawn-off shotgun' and tried to kill brother following wake row
A man shot his cousin dead and tried to kill his brother following a row at a wake in west London, a court has heard.
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Jahmel Joseph, 29, allegedly shot Jordan Rodney in the eye and also blasted his brother Omar Joseph in the head and hand after an earlier argument at a family gathering for a deceased relative in Hammersmith, west London, on June 11 2025.
A doorbell camera near to the address of the wake captured the alleged attacker arriving on a motorcycle at around 11.15pm.
It then caught the sound of two shots being fired before the motorcyclist got back on to the motorcycle and rode away, an Old Bailey trial was told.
Opening the trial on Monday, prosecutor Crispin Aylett KC told jurors: “Jordan Rodney had been shot in the eye at close range.
"The defendant’s brother Omar Joseph was also shot in the head, but after hearing the gun being fired, Omar instinctively turned his head and put his hand up to protect his face."
Mr Rodney was still alive when he was rushed to hospital, but died the following day, the court heard.
Omar Joseph sustained injuries to his eye and a fracture to his hand, with surgeons later removing a shotgun pellet from his hand.
Jurors heard that earlier in the night, the defendant and Mr Rodney had been arguing outside the address of the wake in Claxton Grove.
“A number of people commented on the off-hand behaviour of the defendant,” Mr Aylett said, adding: “The whole occasion was very emotional and a number of people were upset.”
Part of the conversation between Joseph and Mr Rodney was recorded by a nearby doorbell camera, the trial heard.
Mr Aylett read out a transcript of the recording, in which Joseph can be heard telling Mr Rodney: “I can’t lie, bro… I’m not sleeping… You don’t understand” – to which Mr Rodney replied: “You f****** c***… How are we meant to know what’s going on in your f****** head?”
A relative then told the pair to keep the noise down, before suggesting to Joseph that he should go home.
Joseph’s Mercedes was captured on CCTV heading back towards the flat where he lived with his mother in Ealing at around 10.55pm.
Ten minutes later, the same CCTV camera picked up a motorcycle being driven away from the area around the defendant’s flat.
The prosecution alleges that Joseph, who owned a black and grey Yamaha motorcycle at the time of the shooting, was the motorcyclist caught on CCTV.
The motorcycle, which had no registration plate, travelled towards Hammersmith and turned into Claxton Grove at 11.15pm, before returning to Eaton Rise at around 11.55pm, jurors heard.
Later in the night, Joseph drove his Mercedes to a service station in Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire where he bought a cup of coffee, before returning home at about 4.45am, when he “had a bonfire in his garden”, jurors were told.
In the morning, Mr Rodney’s mother – Joseph’s aunt – called the defendant and accused him of killing her son.
Joseph replied: “I did not do that – I was at home sleeping,” Mr Aylett told jurors.
By the time Joseph left his flat again at around 6.20am, police were looking for him.
When Joseph’s Mercedes was spotted by police driving out of a car park in Isleworth at around 8.10am on June 12, the defendant accelerated and a car chase ensued, the court heard.
“In the course of the chase that followed, the defendant’s car struck a number of other vehicles,” Mr Aylett told jurors.
“In all, about 20 cars sustained differing levels of damage.”
The Mercedes eventually collided head-on with another car and came to a stop, the trial heard.
Joseph then allegedly abandoned the vehicle and, carrying a black bag, fled on foot through neighbouring gardens until he was eventually arrested in a garden on Tolson Road in Isleworth.
Police found a black bag nearby, which contained a sawn-off shotgun, Mr Aylett said.
“A DNA profile that matches that of the defendant has been recovered from the trigger of the gun,” he further told jurors.
Joseph was interviewed under caution, but made no comment to any of the questions he was asked.
The defendant has previously been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, for which he has been prescribed medication, jurors were also told.
Joseph, of Eaton Rise, Ealing, west London, denies one count of murder, another of attempted murder, one count of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life, one count of dangerous driving, and a fifth count of possession of a prohibited weapon – namely, a shotgun.
The trial continues.