A cannabis addict who strangled his girlfriend in a frenzied eight-minute attack before driving around East London with her lifeless body for two hours has admitted manslaughter in a case that has devastated the victim’s family.
Gogoa Lois Tape, 28, killed charity worker Kennedi Westcarr-Sabaroche, 25, in her mother’s Vauxhall Mokka in Hackney on 5 April after asking her for a lift. The court heard he then moved her body to the passenger seat and calmly drove to buy cigarettes whilst she lay dead beside him.
Inner London Crown Court was told on Friday that Tape had armed himself with a kitchen knife before launching the brutal attack on the mother of his two-year-old daughter. Prosecutor Julia Faure Walker revealed disturbing CCTV footage showed the killer’s movements after the murder.
Eight-Minute Attack in Vehicle
The prosecution outlined how Tape attacked Ms Westcarr-Sabaroche for at least eight minutes as she sat in the driver’s seat, using “manual compression to the neck” whilst also punching her repeatedly. The court heard there were incised wounds to her hands, consistent with defending herself from the knife attack.
“After the killing, he moved her from the driver’s seat to the passenger seat and buckled the seatbelt, he drove away so that the neighbours would not see,” Ms Faure Walker told the court.
The prosecutor added that Tape “continued to drive around the local area with her slumped next to him” before parking and buying cigarettes from a shop. He also sent a message from the victim’s phone to her friend’s phone “pretending to be her, alluding to infidelity which the defendant had been accusing her of.”
Cannabis Warnings Ignored
The court heard Tape had smoked cannabis daily since 2014 and had been repeatedly warned by mental health professionals to abstain from the drug after experiencing psychotic episodes in 2023. Despite these warnings, he continued smoking cannabis, including during a holiday to Amsterdam, and failed to attend several follow-up appointments.
Psychiatric reports revealed Tape was suffering from “paranoid and persecutory delusions arising from schizophrenia at the time of the killing,” according to the prosecution. The court was told his ability to form rational judgement and exercise self-control were “substantially impaired.”
In March 2024, just weeks before the killing, Tape had become increasingly paranoid and repeatedly accused Ms Westcarr-Sabaroche of cheating on him. Witnesses reported he even went to another man’s door to find out if she was with him.
Family’s Anguish Over Dropped Murder Charge
Tape pleaded guilty to manslaughter by diminished responsibility, with the Crown Prosecution Service agreeing to drop the original murder charge. This decision has caused significant distress to Ms Westcarr-Sabaroche’s family, who delivered emotional victim impact statements at the sentencing hearing.
“It is deeply painful to know that despite the overwhelming truth of what Tape did, the legal system has given room to this version of events, in a system meant to protect the innocent,” Ms Westcarr-Sabaroche’s mother Linda told the court.
Her sister, Danielle Westcarr-Jourdan, a mental health worker, expressed frustration that the narrative had focused on the “perpetrator’s mental health” rather than justice for her sister. She revealed she had “received no support, no statutory help, and no financial aid” whilst dealing with the traumatic aftermath.
“I feel I have had to advocate for myself and for my family’s safety throughout this process. Kennedi deserved protection in life and she deserves justice in death,” she said tearfully.
The family also revealed their victim impact statements had been substantially “redacted” before the hearing, adding to their distress.
Victim Was Charity Worker Who Met King
Ms Westcarr-Sabaroche worked as a social media assistant at the Marie Curie trust and had previously been an apprentice for the Prince’s Trust. The court heard she had met King Charles on two occasions through her charity work.
Her mother described her daughter as “my best friend, my soulmate, the life of our family” who was “selfless, intelligent, strong, and full of life.”
Friends and family remembered Ms Westcarr-Sabaroche as a “vibrant and loving” mother who “cherished moments, finding joy in dancing, trying new things, and spending time with loved ones.” A GoFundMe page set up after her death raised more than £43,000 for her funeral.
Relationship History and Warning Signs
The court heard Tape and Ms Westcarr-Sabaroche had known each other since they were teenagers in college. They split up in 2019 when he cheated on her but later reconciled. During the Covid lockdown, Tape moved in with her family, and they had a daughter together in 2022.
Signs of deteriorating mental health began to emerge, with Tape talking about the “devil” and making unfounded allegations about Ms Westcarr-Sabaroche’s infidelity. The court also heard that Ms Westcarr-Sabaroche had sent messages suggesting she was scared of Tape’s erratic behaviour, fearing it could lead to violence.
On the night of the attack, Tape travelled to Bruce Grove station where Ms Westcarr-Sabaroche picked him up in her mother’s car. It was more than six hours after the fatal attack that he told anyone about her death, with her body discovered in the vehicle on Whiston Road in Hackney.
Delayed Emergency Response
The prosecution emphasised that Tape could have used either his own or the victim’s phone to call emergency services but chose not to do so. Instead, he spent two hours driving around the local area with her body before the alarm was raised.
Police officers were eventually forced to break into the vehicle and attempted to resuscitate Ms Westcarr-Sabaroche before paramedics arrived, but she was pronounced dead at the scene.
The hearing at Inner London Crown Court continues, with Tape facing sentencing for manslaughter by diminished responsibility. The case has raised questions about mental health support, cannabis-induced psychosis, and the justice system’s handling of domestic violence cases where mental illness is a factor.
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