A personal trainer shot dead years after stopping a gang rape was bombarded with threatening messages warning him “You’re dead meat”, his grief-stricken mother has told his inquest.
Abraham Badru was just 14 when he was handed a bravery award for going to the rescue of a woman as she was being seriously sexually assaulted, and later gave evidence in court against the suspects, whom he had known while growing up in east London.
But he spent the rest of his life living in fear of retribution from those he helped to convict, staying indoors, covering his face, and changing his name.
He was shot dead outside his home in Hackney on Sunday March 25 2018, although his murder remains unsolved.
Ronke Ali Badru, Mr Badru’s mother, said the threatening messages began days after the rape suspects were arrested, telling St Pancras Coroner’s Court on Monday: “Abraham was receiving messages saying ‘You’re dead meat’, ‘You’re a snitch’.
“He was so scared, he stopped going out.”
His car was also vandalised years later, she said, which further worried her son.
Mrs Badru said she originally begged police not to make her young son give evidence against the rapists, but said she was told she would be charged with perverting the course of justice if she intervened.
Her son moved to Bristol to study for his A-levels out of fear for his life, but returned to London for work after completing his Masters degree in 2016, and then went by the name “Prince”.
The night he died, 26-year-old Mr Badru was on the phone to a woman when he was fatally shot as he unloaded items from the boot of his car, shortly after 11pm.
Detective Sergeant Matthew Bennet told the inquest: “She (the woman on the phone) described hearing a number of loud bangs, then hearing the sound of screeching tyres.
“She was completely unaware of what had taken place.”
Mrs Badru wiped tears from her eyes as coroner Mary Hassell read witness statements that confirmed her son was pronounced dead at the scene, with gunshot wounds to the chest and thigh.
Police said the gang rape suspects all had alibis for the night Mr Badru was killed, while other lines of investigation – including relating to the women he was speaking to in the months before he died – drew a blank.
Mr Bennett said: “We still haven’t, to this day, identified any links to the murder or any motive.
“We couldn’t find anyone who had a particular grudge or vendetta against him.
“It has just been a wall of silence in relation to the murder investigation.”
The inquest continues.
Ojelabi, the publisher of Freelanews, is an award winning and professionally trained mass communicator and a recipient of the D9112 Superstar Icon Award, who writes ruthlessly about pop culture, religion, politics and entertainment.
