Drug dealer who stabbed rival jailed after failing to ditch Louis Vuitton-style manbag which linked him to crime scene
10 January 2025, 18:49 | Updated: 10 January 2025, 18:51
A drug dealer who fatally stabbed a rival in the street has been found guilty of murder after his designer Louis Vuitton-style manbag identified him and linked him to the crime scene.
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Dualla Abdi, 20, failed to ditch the luxury accessory he was carrying when he attacked Tyreece Scott, 24, in Hounslow, west London, shortly before 1am last January 16.
Having disposed of his clothes after stabbing Mr Scott in the chest, he could not be parted with the valuable bag which helped to identify him, the Old Bailey heard.
Following a trial at the Old Bailey, Abdi, 20, from Acton, was found guilty of murder and having a blade on Friday.
His accomplice and getaway driver Ben Laing, 24, from Feltham, was also found guilty of murder.
Reda Mohamed, 24, from Hounslow, west London, and Morgan Allen, 29, from Chertsey, Surrey, were convicted of perverting the course of justice.
The court had heard how Abdi and Laing had driven up beside the victim and got out.
Abdi delivered the fatal blow, but Laing was standing beside him, jurors were told.
Both men then got back in their car and Laing sped off, leaving Mr Scott bleeding to death on the residential street.
Mohamed and Allen helped the pair flee to Morocco, only for the killers to be arrested at Stansted Airport days later on January 19 upon their return to the UK.
Prosecutor Zoe Johnson KC told jurors the background to the murder was linked to drug dealing and Mr Scott had been operating on rival territory.
Before leaving the UK, Laing had handed over a drug-dealing phone referred to as the "Rocky Line" to Mohamed, jurors were told.
Allen was said to be in a relationship with Mohamed and acted under his instructions with both helping Laing and Abdi to escape, the court was told.
Ms Johnson had said: "We will never know the precise reason why Tyreece Scott died that night. There is no evidence that he knew the other defendants or had met them before.
"Drug dealing is an ugly, competitive business in which dealers protect their 'turf' at any cost. It was Tyreece Scott's exposure to that world which led to his murder."
Evidence including CCTV, mobile phone data and a GPS tracker on the attacker's hire car made a "compelling" case against the defendants, jurors were told.
At the time of the stabbing, Abdi was wearing a black hooded jacket with a "Trapstar" logo in white on the front of the jacket and what was probably a Louis Vuitton manbag with a distinctive buckle on the strap, jurors heard.
After the murder, Abdi dumped his outfit - except for the manbag, which became important in helping to identify him at the scene, Ms Johnson said.
Ms Johnson asserted that Abdi and Laing had worked as a team with a common purpose when Mr Scott was stabbed.
The court heard that Abdi did not accept he was the stabber, and while Laing admitted being at the scene, claimed he had no knowledge that his co-defendant was going to stab Mr Scott and did not encourage or participate in any way.
Mohamed and Allen denied knowing anything about the murder, jurors were told.
When Allen was arrested, she admitted knowing Laing as "Chunks", Abdi as "Dodgy" and Mohamed as "Rocco".
She told police she had been in a sexual relationship with Mohamed whose behaviour she described as abusive and controlling.
After the verdicts were delivered, the court heard Abdi had a previous conviction for having a blade in 2022 and was in breach of his suspended sentence when he killed Mr Scott.
Laing had one caution for possession of cannabis in 2020.
Sentencing of the defendants was adjourned until February 27.
