Man killed his girlfriend then drove around with her body before confessing

A man brutally murdered his girlfriend in a car before buckling her into the passenger seat and driving around with her body for nearly two hours, a court heard.

Kennedi Westcarr-Sabaroche, 25, was killed by her boyfriend Gogoa Tape, 28, at around 11.25pm on April 5 last year. About six and a half hours after, at 6am, he woke his brother and confessed: "I killed Kennedi, bro", Inner London Crown Court was told.

Westcarr-Sabaroche was found dead in the Vauxhall in Whiston Road, Hackney, east London, on April 6, on the street where Tape lived. The man who the victim's mum “trusted like family” was arrested shortly after the murder. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility and carrying a bladed weapon in public.

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Kennedi's cause of death was confirmed as "manual compression to the neck", prosecutor Julia Faure-Walker told the court. Ms Faure-Walker added: "There were also blunt force injuries consistent with his punching her several times and incised wounds to her hands consistent with defending herself from a knife attack. The defendant had brought a kitchen knife with him."

The court heard how Tape moved his girlfriend’s body from the driver’s seat to the passenger seat and even buckled her in "so the neighbours wouldn’t see". He then drove her around the neighbourhood. He also used Kennedi's phone to message one of her friends, pretending she was alive, prosecutors said.

Tape called his brother in a panic, saying he had "f***** up" and "murdered Kennedi", the court heard. His brother went to check the car and then called the police. When Tape was taken to prison, he refused to answer nearly all questions in an interview.

Psychiatrists said Tape had "paranoid and persecutory delusions arising from schizophrenia at the time of the killing", according to Ms Faure-Walker. He had been a cannabis smoker since 2014 and despite warnings from mental health services in 2023, carried on using it, the court heard.

Tape went to A&E in April 2023, where he mentioned having "dark thoughts that had been going on for a number of weeks... around harming others in the context of self-defence". In December 2023, he told his GP his paranoia had eased and later admitted to using cannabis in the second half of the year, the prosecution heard.

In March 2024, Tape accused Kennedi of sleeping with other people. The victim told her cousin she had found a letter from her boyfriend which "said something about wanting to kill her and (her mother) Linda", but when she confronted him, he said he did not mean it, the court heard.

On the day of the murder, Tape picked up Kennedi and she drove to Talavera Place, the court heard. The court watched harrowing CCTV of Tape getting out of the car and walking to the driver's door before he "bent forward and lunged into the car, remaining there for about eight minutes", the prosecution said.

Ms Faure-Walker said Kennedi was likely stabbed while conscious and endured a "consistent period of strangulation". Afterwards, for nearly two hours, "with the deceased in the passenger seat, he drove around the local area, bought cigarettes, sent a message from her phone to a friend of hers, then returned to Talavera Place a few times", the prosecution said.

After he was detained, Tape told cops: "I lost my head, I've been losing my head the last two or three years," the court heard. About 60 of Kennedi's family members were in court for the sentencing. Linda Westcarr, Kennedi's heartbroken mum, said she was "not just my daughter, she was a mother, a sister, she was a cousin, a granddaughter, a niece and a colleague, but above all she was our friend".

She said: "My daughter Kennedi was brutally taken from us by someone she trusted, someone we welcomed into our home and trusted like family." She added that her granddaughter "talks about her mummy making pasta with a smile, these small memories are all she has left, she still asks for her mummy... she asks questions that no child should ever have to ask". The mum added: "This wasn't just one life lost, it was a family shattered."

Danielle Westcarr-Jourdan said her sister "lit up any room" and that her "absence isn't just felt, it haunts". She added: "The violent way her life was taken has left us with pain that cannot be measured. Kennedi deserved protecting in life and she deserves justice in death."

Sentencing was adjourned until September 1.

For confidential support, call the 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Freephone Helpline on 0808 2000 247 or visit womensaid.co.uk. If you or your family have lost a friend or family member through fatal domestic abuse, AAFDA (Advocacy After Fatal Domestic Abuse) can offer specialist and expert support and advocacy. For more info visit** www.aafda.org.uk**.