Tyler McDermott: Four men guilty of shooting and stabbing teen

Four men have been found guilty of killing a teenager who was fatally shot in the head outside a house party and then struck with a sword.

Tyler McDermott, 17, was attacked without warning in the early hours of 13 April last year in Tottenham, north London.

An Old Bailey trial was shown CCTV footage of the moment Tyler was shot in the head with a ball bearing. He then had his leg cut with a sword as he lay “stricken and defenceless on the ground”, the jury was told.

The four men were convicted of murder, as well as other charges, and will be sentenced on 20 September.

Following a three-month trial, Tyrese Barnett, 20, of no fixed address, was found guilty of the murder of Tyler and the attempted murder of Kamali Lindo, who was also fired at.

Leo Reid, 20, of Tulse Hill, south-west London, who wielded the sword, and Rhys Antwi, 20, of Prentis Road, south-west London, were both found guilty of murder having already pleaded guilty to possession of an offensive weapon.

Kalam Bagge, 19, of Nimrod Road, south-west London, was also convicted of murder.

Prosecutor John Price KC told the jury there had been signs of “tension and hostility” brewing between two groups of young people from north and south London who were present at the party held in a music studio on the morning of 13 April.

One group consisted of Tyler, Kamali Lindo and other friends of theirs who were from north London, while the defendants were in the other group who had travelled from south London and were armed with two swords and the gun.

As the two groups left the music studio in Norman Road, Tottenham, the CCTV footage clearly showed what happened, the court heard.

Paramedics were called to the scene following the attack but Tyler died in hospital the following day.

Mr Price told the court Barnett was the man who had shot the teenager, while Reid struck him with the machete when he had fallen.

“They showed they both intended and desired that Tyler McDermott should die.

“Clearly what Tyrese Barnett had just done to Tyler McDermott came as no surprise or shock to Leo Reid,” he said.

Both men were found two days later sitting together at Heathrow Airport with one-way tickets to Jamaica, the court heard.

During the trial Barnett claimed in his defence that the shooting was an accident, saying he had not deliberately aimed the gun at Tyler and did not mean to pull the trigger.

However, Barnett refused to be cross-examined about his evidence in the witness box.

The other defendants were all present in both the music studio and in Norman Street when the shots were fired, the court heard.

Antwi and Bagge claimed not to have been part of a plan to attack the rival group.

Two other men who were on trial – Alfred Coker, 21, of Bowen Drive, south-east London, and Damaris McBeth, 20, of The Glade, Croydon – were both acquitted of murder.