Alex Rose of Garden Court Chambers and Joel Bennathan QC of Doughty Street Chambers represented Brandon Akapea, instructed by Guven Ates of Morgan Has Solicitors.
Mr Akapea had stood trial in the early part of the year alongside four co-defendants. Each of the four was convicted of murder whilst the jury was discharged from returning a verdict in respect of Mr Akapea.
In the September retrial, the Prosecution Case was that Mr Akapea was one of five men responsible for the murder of Mohammed Hassan on the Winstanley Estate SW11. The defendant accepted that he was one of the five men in the car that travelled to the estate but maintained that he did not take part in the joint enterprise murder.
The case involved complex issues of bad character evidence: gang membership/affiliation, and illustrated the incontrovertible need for a jury to closely examine the intention, behaviour, and characteristics of the defendant in their charge.
The case has been reported in the press, including by the Standard and London News.
Alex Rose is a member of the Garden Court Chambers Crime Team.
