The mother of a charity worker strangled to death by her cannabis addict boyfriend have said the justice system ‘has failed her and failed us’ after he was spared a murder trial.
Kennedi Westcarr-Sabaroche, 25, was attacked with a kitchen knife and then throttled in her own car in a horrific eight-minute attack by partner Gogoa Tape, 28, in Hackney, east London, last April.
Tape was charged with murder, but prosecutors ultimately accepted a guilty plea to the lesser offence of manslaughter by diminished responsibility.
He was sentenced to a hospital order under Section 37 of the Mental Health Act with a restriction order under Section 41, meaning he will not serve a day in prison.
Inner London Crown Court heard Tape was suffering from ‘paranoid and persecutory delusions arising from schizophrenia at the time of the killing’, with the illness made worse by his cannabis use.
About 40 of Kennedi’s loved ones sat in the well of the court on Monday as Tape was sentenced to a hospital order under Section 37 of the Mental Health Act with a restriction order under Section 41.
Judge Freya Newbery referenced the victim impact statements read out by Kennedi’s mum and sisters, telling the court: ‘She was a bright and beautiful young woman, I heard, and still only 25 and killed by you just three weeks before your daughter’s – her daughter’s – second birthday.
‘That daughter – her daughter and your daughter – is left motherless and the victim of what you did, not just at the time, but she has to carry that around with her, her whole life – her father killed her mother.
‘The family is, I learned, and it is obvious, left shattered and broken.’
‘We can never say she was murdered’
The decision not to put Tape on trial for murder, which carries a mandatory life sentence, angered Kennedi’s family, who said they ‘will have to live with this injustice for the rest of our lives’.
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Her mum, Linda Westcarr, said after the hearing: ‘My daughter was loving, brave, and full of promise. She tried to leave a coercive relationship and paid with her life.
‘The system has failed her and failed us.
‘We can never say she was murdered. We will have to explain to her young daughter the complexities of his conviction, which in simple terms says he wasn’t totally responsible, and myself and my family will have to live with this injustice for the rest of our lives while the criminal justice system and everyone else moves on.’
‘Outdated laws let killers get away with murder’
The Joanna Simpson Foundation’s co-founders Diana Parkes and Hetti Barkworth-Nanton said ‘outdated and inadequate’ homicide laws are letting killers ‘get away with murder’.
Joanna’s mother Ms Parkes said families are left feeling ‘true justice has been denied’, adding: ‘It is wrong to use mental health as a get out clause for killing, as in our case.’
Ms Barkworth-Nanton said: ‘What message does this conviction send in a country that claims to be halving violence against women and girls? That women’s lives are negotiable? They are not.
‘This case must be a watershed. We cannot allow another woman’s life to be devalued by a system that fails to recognise the patterns of coercive control and intimate partner violence.
‘Our murder laws are outdated and inadequate.’
Ellie Butt, Head of Policy and Public Affairs at Refuge, said: ‘We’re concerned by what appears to be a troubling pattern of domestic abuse perpetrators having diminished responsibility pleas accepted in domestic homicide cases.
‘These pleas often lead to manslaughter rather than murder convictions, meaning perpetrators do not face a mandatory life sentence. This can send a harmful message – not only to surviving family members, but to wider society – that extreme violence in domestic settings is somehow less serious.
‘We acknowledge the complexity of mental health in the criminal justice system and welcome the Law Commission’s review into homicide laws.
‘However, we believe this issue must be treated with the utmost speed and urgency.
‘Every case in which a victim is denied full justice compounds the trauma experienced by their loved ones and risks undermining public confidence in how our legal system responds to domestic abuse.’
‘Serious concerns’ over how manslaughter pleas are considered
Emma Webber, mother of Barnaby Webber, whose killer Valdo Calocane also successfully used the same defence, said: ‘I stand by Kennedi’s family not just in grief, but in outrage.
‘We cannot allow another young woman’s life to be devalued by a system that too readily excuses violence.
‘We must – and will – ensure that this cruel, unjust and archaic system properly reforms.’
Killed Women said: ‘Once again, the justice system has failed to deliver a meaningful response to femicide.
‘In this case, a woman was killed by strangulation – a sustained and intentional act of violence – yet the perpetrator was allowed to enter a plea of diminished responsibility.
‘This raises serious concerns about how such pleas are assessed, especially in the context of deliberate harm.
‘At the heart of this tragedy is a grieving family, left to endure the unimaginable loss of their daughter.
‘Their pain is a stark reminder that behind every statistic is a life stolen and a community shattered.
‘There has never been a more urgent need for agencies to confront the realities of male violence against women.
‘We must stop diminishing the horror of these murders and reject narratives that excuse or soften the impact of fatal male violence.’
Claire Waxman, the London Victims Commissioner, supported Kennedi’s family, said she is ‘deeply concerned that this grieving family repeatedly felt silenced and dismissed throughout the process, compounding their suffering.
‘It is vital that there is a better understanding of families’ trauma and grief, and that they receive clear, and trauma-informed communication throughout.
‘I am particularly troubled that Linda had to fight to simply read out her Victim Personal Statement. I have long called for stronger guidance to ensure that every victim is guaranteed this opportunity.
‘Sadly, this remains one of the only chances victims have to share their story, express their emotions and ensure their voice is heard in a system that too often deprioritises their needs and rights. It is imperative that this right is respected and upheld.’
Killer armed himself with kitchen knife – but attack ‘not premeditated’
Kennedi was killed on April 5 last year, weeks before her daughter’s second birthday.
On the night of the killing, Tape travelled to Bruce Grove station where Kennedi picked him up.
She eventually drove him to Talavera Place, in the Whiston Estate in Hackney, where she was strangled, the court heard.
Prosecutor Julia Faure Walker earlier told the court the cause of her death was ‘manual compression to the neck’.
She said: ‘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.’
She said of the knife: ‘He must have been carrying that kitchen knife, which had a 20cm blade, when he left his home address and must have been travelling on public transport carrying this knife.
‘Taking account of all of the evidence in this case and considering the delay in the attack that was to take place – it was not immediate, despite the potential opportunity – it is not the prosecution case beyond a reasonable doubt that he brought it with his for the purpose of using it on Kennedi.’
Tape watched as CCTV was played to the court showing him getting out of the car, walking to the driver’s door, then ‘bending forward and lunging into the car, remaining there for about eight minutes’.
Ms Faure-Walker said Ms Westcarr-Sabaroche must have suffered from sharp force injuries from the knife while she was still conscious, and there must have been a ‘consistent period of strangulation’.
Tape then moved Kennedi’s body into the passenger seat and drove around with her lifeless body for two hours.
It was Tape’s brother, who was woken at about 6am to be told ‘I killed Kennedi, bro’, who called the police.
After he was detained, Tape told officers: ‘I lost my head, I’ve been losing my head the last two or three years.’
Judge Newbery said he was at the time an ‘undiagnosed schizophrenic’ who held ‘paranoid and persecutory delusions which substantially impaired your judgment and your exercise of self-control’.
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