Rapper found guilty of attempted murder in Notting Hill drive-by shooting trial
Nathan Tokosi, aka DigDat, was found guilty on Tuesday of offences including attempted murder.
Rapper Nathan Tokosi, also known as DigDat, has been found guilty of attempted murder over a drive-by shooting where the victim was “lucky not to die”.
Daniel Offei-Ntow, 27, was shot and severely injured as he sat in his car in Notting Hill, west London, early on November 20 2023.
Sobbing could be heard from the public gallery as an Old Bailey jury unanimously found Tokosi, 25, of Deptford, south-east London, guilty of attempted murder and possessing a self-loading pistol and ammunition, both with intent to endanger life.
He was also found guilty of possessing a prohibited firearm and ammunition.
Tokosi, whose single Air Force peaked at number 20 on the UK singles chart, showed no reaction as the verdicts were returned.
Opening the trial in February, prosecutor Kate Bex KC said the defendant was one of at least two people in a stolen Audi that pulled up beside Mr Offei-Ntow’s Mitsubishi.
At least six shots were fired from a rear passenger window, hitting Mr Offei-Ntow in the head, mouth and body, and he was “lucky not to die”, Ms Bex said.
Firearms officers arrived quickly and found the victim’s Mitsubishi Outlander riddled with bullet holes and the interior covered in blood.
Officers followed a trail of blood and found Mr Offei-Ntow had returned to his flat and was sitting on a sofa “in shock and severely injured”, the court was told.
Police dogs recovered a latex glove and a black bag containing a firearm and three rounds of ammunition near to where the Audi was abandoned.
Further inquiries revealed that Tokosi had borrowed a BMW to make two trips on consecutive nights from his father’s home in Deptford, south-east London, to Notting Hill that weekend, the jury heard.
Ms Bex said it was clear Tokosi was involved in the shooting and there was no “innocent explanation” for the BMW and the Audi being in the same west London location.
Investigators found DNA allegedly belonging Tokosi and artist Kamal Benjamin, aka Wesson, in the Audi used in the shooting.
But further evidence, including Mr Benjamin’s Instagram posts from Dubai, suggested he had left the UK days before, jurors were told.
Mr Benjamin posted a video on Instagram of Lil Durk, who had performed in Dubai four days before the shooting.
Another post the following month showed him in a nightclub with rapper 50 Cent, who had performed in Dubai on December 21 2023.
Sentencing was adjourned to a date yet to be fixed.
