Manchester rapper Tunde has been on remand after being arrested for 4 shootings in his home town in 2021.
According to the Manchester rapper’s manager, on the 25th of April 2021, Tunde was in London recording a music video for his debut project ‘First Lap’ and planning to attend a studio session the following day with Steel Banglez. Tunde was reportedly passing through Tottenham on the way to the final location of the music video shoot, when he was allegedly rushed and blocked in by a reported Brixton TSG unit who reportedly immediately arrested Tunde for 4 alleged shootings in Manchester.
Tunde has reportedly attended one dismissal and five bail hearings; at this time, it’s been reported that all applications for release have been denied, leading to the Manchester rapper spending 11 months in jail on remand, ahead of a pending Crown Court trial, of which his manager claims he will be pleading “not guilty” at.
Following the above, it has been reported that court proceedings have now been delayed for a further 8 months to allow for more evidence to be gathered. The prior mentioned indicates Tunde will have served over a year and a half on remand – on 23 hour lockdown before his first trial date – to defend himself and plead his innocence. Tunde’s management claims the rapper is allegedly being framed in this case, and says he is sorry to his fans, family and friends for his abrupt absence.
Trial
A rapper plotted a shooting in which a gunman opened fire at a house in ‘retaliation’ after his ex’s car had been ‘bricked’, prosecutors allege. Olu Tunde Finni, who performs as ‘Tunde’, is on trial alongside four other men accused of planning the shooting at a property in Moorton Avenue, Burnage.
Mr Finni and his co-accused have pleaded not guilty. Manchester Crown Court heard a gunman fired two shots at a house before the firearm jammed.
No-one was hurt, with the couple who lived in the house asleep in bed. Prosecutors allege the shooting was committed in ‘retaliation’ after the windows of a car belonging to Mr Finni’s ex-girlfriend were ‘bricked’ by a group of men in Wythenshawe.
The jury heard the shooting took place about an hour later, at around midnight on September 27, 2020. “It is the prosecution case that Mr Finni, after learning that his ex-girlfriend’s vehicle had been targeted, arranged for the firearm to be retrieved and for someone to attend at Moorton Avenue and discharge it towards the address,” prosecutor Jonathon Rogers said.
Jurors were told the shooting was a case of ‘mistaken identity’, and that those who lived in the house were not responsible for the damage to the car and didn’t have any connection with the alleged conspirators. Mr Finni, 27, is on trial accused conspiring to possess a firearm with intent to endanger life, alongside Ateeque Brown, 23, Samuel McNair, 31, Elias Abubakar, 24 and Jack Derbyshire, 24.
Another man, 37-year-old Lorenzo McKenzie, is accused of storing the Glock style gun for the men, who prosecutors allege were part of a ‘criminal gang’. All six men have pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors allege Mr Finni’s ex-partner called him following the damage to her car, before she reported it to police. They claim that the conspirators organised for the weapon to be picked up from Mr McKenzie and delivered to the gunman, who police have been unable to identify.
They say that cell site data shows that Mr McNair and Mr Brown were in the vicinity of Moorton Avenue, and that Mr Finni and Mr Abubakar were nearby. Footage showed the gunman emerge from a white Audi TT before opening fire at the house.
The gunman fired twice, with one bullet passing into the ground floor study and through a bookshelf before becoming lodged in the wall. The second hit the windowsill, and the gun then appeared to jam.
Prosecutors claim DNA evidence links Mr Finni to a bullet casing found on the ground, and a live bullet which had been left at the scene after the gun jammed. Mr Finni denies any involvement and said his DNA could have been left on the casings through ‘innocent transfer’.
Mr Derbyshire’s DNA was found on the gun, which was seized by police at a property in Wythenshawe weeks later. Jurors heard that Mr Finni was stopped by police in London in April last year. He told officers he was in the area to shoot a music video, and that he performed under the name Tunde.
He was found to have £2,000 in his pocket and £900 in a man bag, three Rolex watches and a replica firearm in the boot of the car he’d been travelling in. Mr Finni told police the money was from his music management and represented the sales of music merchandise.
Earlier in the trial, when the jury was being selected, Mr Finni’s barrister told them: “Ole Tunde Finni is a musician known as Tunde, he features in rap music videos and the like.” Jurors heard Mr McKenzie admitted being in possession of the firearm in August, the month before, but not at the time of the shooting.
He said he was in debt to his drug dealer, who he ‘looked after things’ for, and borrowed the firearm to protect himself because he was ‘frightened’.
The defendants accused of the conspiracy are expected to argue that they socialised together, so cell site data showing they were together would not be out of the ordinary. Mr Finni, of Westdean Crescent, Burnage; Mr Abubakar, of Rockdove Avenue, Hulme; Mr Brown, of Bryony Close, Wythenshawe; Mr McNair, of Wharf End, Trafford Park; and Mr Derbyshire, of Greenthorn Walk, Hulme; have all pleaded not guilty to conspiring to possess a firearm with intent to endanger life.
Mr Finni has denied possessing ammunition without a firearm certificate, while Mr Derbyshire has denied possessing a prohibited firearm. Mr McKenzie, of Hester Walk, Hulme, has pleaded not guilty to participating in the activities of an organised crime group.
