Burngreave murder trial: Sheffield trio accused were allegedly spotted on CCTV and located by phone records

A Sheffield Crown Court trial has heard how Jabari Fanty, Aaron Yanbak and Ricardo Nkanyezi stand accused of murdering 20-year-old Ramey Salem at a flat on Grimesthorpe Road South, Burngreave, Sheffield, on November 16, 2020.

Stephen Wood QC, prosecuting, has also claimed Fanty, Yanbak and another defendant, Jordan Foote, were involved in the attempted murder of Ali al-Humakaini weeks earlier after he was shot at Osgathorpe Park, Burngreave, Sheffield, on October 31, 2020.

Mr Wood claimed during a hearing on May 10 that the accused allegedly linked to the murder and to the attempted murder could be placed in the relevant areas around the time of each incident by CCTV footage and their mobile phone usage.

He said: “The telephone evidence is important for two reasons. Firstly, because of what is contained on those phones themselves, and secondly, we say the telephone evidence is important because it gives us the location of a particular defendant at a particular time.”

Mr Wood claims the case is all about guns, gangs and drug-dealing and the lengths the accused would go to including the alleged murder and alleged attempted murder.

He said: “As a gang they had ready access to firearms and ammunition and they were a gang prepared to use those guns on the streets of this city with the obvious intended risk that the lives of people would be put at risk.”

Mr Wood added that a ballistics expert suggested Mr Salem was shot at least five times from two firearms converted from blank-firing pistols.

He claimed ballistics from one of the guns indicated this first weapon had also been used during the attempted murder.

Mr Wood added that just hours before the shooting of Mr Salem, CCTV captured three males who were allegedly Yanbak, Nkanyezi and Fanty walking down a path connecting Grimesthorpe Road South and Ellesmere Road on November 15, 2020.

Recorded data placed Nkanyezi’s phone in the area and other phone data placed Yanbak in Pitsmoor and further CCTV footage showed three males walking towards Pitsmoor Road just after midnight on November 16, 2020, and going into Burngreave Cemetery and towards Grimesthorpe Road.

Following the shooting of Mr Salem at about 1.15am, CCTV footage showed three figures running from the junction of Melrose Road, crossing Burngreave Road and going into Christ Church Road.

Mr Wood said CCTV also allegedly picked up three males on the evening before the attempted murder, allegedly committed by Fanty, Yanbak and Foote, running along Osgathorpe Road.

He claimed that Yanbak and Fanty’s phones also activated in that area during that same evening.

Mr Wood claimed the same gun used during the alleged attempted murder was also used in a shooting on November 2, 2020, on Chaucer Road, Rotherham, allegedly after Yanbak and Nkanyezi had been pursued by a 4x4 vehicle around the time their phones activated cell sites in Rotherham.

The ballistics from the other gun were also linked to a shooting incident on October 19, 2020, at Longley Avenue West, Shirecliffe, allegedly involving Fanty, Yanbak and Foote and a VW Golf and a Seat Leon.

Foote also allegedly fled from a stolen BMW car with others on Walkley Street, Sheffield, during another incident, according to Mr Wood, before officers recovered a handgun, drugs and cash from the vehicle.

Mr Wood told the jury: “I have little doubt that the consideration of the case against each of these defendants will depend on examining with care different pieces of evidence from different sources to create an overall picture which we suggest is demonstrative of guilt.”

Fanty, aged 19, of Broadhead Road, Stocksbridge, Sheffield; Yanbak, 20, of Abbeydale Road, Abbeydale, Sheffield; and Nkanyezi, 20, of Morgan Avenue, Parson Cross, Sheffield, have all pleaded not guilty to murder.

Foote, 20, of Basegreen Road, Basegreen, Sheffield; Fanty and Yanbak have all pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder of Ali al-Humakaini.

Fanty, Yanbak, Nkanyezi and Foote have all pleaded not guilty to conspiring to possess firearms with intent to endanger life, not guilty to conspiring to possess ammunition with intent to endanger life, and not guilty to conspiring to supply class A drugs.

Fanty has also pleaded not guilty to possessing a bladed article and Nkanyezi has also pleaded not guilty to possessing a firearm.

The trial continues.