Two men have been locked up for a combined total of 13 years for the manslaughter of a rapper who previously featured in a BBC knife crime documentary. 

Abiola Akerele, 28, died from stab wounds in December 2020 after being involved in an altercation outside his home.

At an Old Bailey trial which concluded on July 19 last year, Rayhan Yasin Ali, 20, of Abbots Road, East Ham, and Junaid Sulaiman, 22, of Prince Regent Lane, Newham, were found not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter. 

The pair were sentenced earlier today (March 9), with Sulaiman receiving nine years’ imprisonment with an extended licence period of two years, and Ali four years in a young offenders’ institution, with an extended licence period of two years. 

Newham Recorder: Abiola Akerele died after being stabbed in December 2020Abiola Akerele died after being stabbed in December 2020 (Image: Met Police)

The court had heard how Ali and Sulaiman met on December 29 2020 with the intention of meeting Abiola at his home in Stondon Walk, East Ham. 

Not long after 3pm, one of the defendants phoned Abiola and arranged to meet at his address. Shortly after, the defendants arrived and during an altercation outside, Abiola was attacked and stabbed. He died around an hour later. 

CCTV analysis showed the suspects arriving at and fleeing the scene, and they were subsequently arrested by detectives, with phone records confirming their locations. 

Other evidence also included a trainer and jogging bottoms from Ali with Abiola’s blood on it. 

In her victim impact statement, Abiola’s mother, Abimbola Akerele, said: "Abiola did not deserve what happened to him, no one does. 

"I want you (the defendants) to know the consequences of your actions that day, you have altered my life, all our lives. You have caused us so much pain and sorrow.

“Words cannot describe how your actions on that day have impacted us. You have cut us deep."

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Det Ch Insp Dave Whellams, who led the investigation, said: "Sulaiman and Ali will now spend a long period of their young, adult lives in prison. While this in no way can compensate Abiola’s family and friends for their loss, I do hope it gives them some sense that justice has been served. 

“The death of Abiola Akerele is another example of the futility of carrying knives and the disastrous consequences of what can happen when violence escalates.” 

As a teenager, Akerele, who went by the name Nayta, featured in the BBC Panorama documentary On A Knife Edge, in which his mother spoke of her fears for her sons.