Rapper plotted shooting in ‘revenge’ after his ex’s car was bricked, jury told

A rapper plotted a shooting in ‘revenge’ after his ex-girlfriend’s car was bricked, prosecutors allege. Olu Tunde Finni, who performs as ‘Tunde’, has gone on trial accused of involvement in a shooting at a house in Burnage.

A gunman opened fire into a property on Moorton Avenue just before midnight. Two bullets were fired but no-one was hurt. Mr Finni, 28, denies conspiring to possess a firearm with intent to endanger life, and is one of five men on trial.

Jurors at Manchester Crown Court were told that the shooting was a case of ‘mistaken identity’, with the occupants being upstairs in bed at the time. Prosecutors said they are unable to say who fired the gun on September 27, 2020.

Join our WhatsApp Top Stories and Breaking News group by clicking this link

But they allege that Mr Finni was involved in arranging the shooting, and claim he was motivated by ‘revenge’ after his ex-partner’s car had been ‘bricked’ about an hour earlier. His DNA was found on a bullet casing and a live round discovered at the scene by police.

Mr Finni is expected to say his DNA came to be on the bullets ‘innocently’ by secondary transfer. Prosecutors told the jury that some of Mr Finni’s family had ‘moved away from their homes’ in the aftermath of the shooting.

“The inference to be drawn from that is clear,” prosecutor Jonathan Rogers said. “Mr Finni was afraid that the shooting at Moorton Avenue would become a tit-for-tat.”

Jurors were told that draft messages on Mr Finni’s phone saved to a contact named ‘new lyrics’ were allegedly a ‘document’ of ‘what was going on’ at the time. One message, composed on October 1, 2020, read: “Explain how war works and f**** with us, it’s expensive, you can’t tell the women in your family what’s exactly going on but you have to tell them to stay away from their homes.”

Mr Rogers said that in a recording on the phone, Mr Finni was heard to rap: “Still f*** the opposition, there’s no competition, I watched em all crumble when we hit them with attrition. Better watch out who you put into position, gave my young bud a Glock and went and sent him on a mission.”

The firearm used in the shooting in Burnage, a Glock pistol, was seized by police six weeks later. DNA belonging to a co-defendant of Mr Finni, Jack Derbyshire, was found on the spring of the firearm.

Two phones belonging to Mr Finni were seized by police when he was stopped in London in April 2021. He told police he was in the area shooting a music video.

Mr Finni, of Buckley Street, Edgeley, Stockport; Mr Derbyshire, 25, of Greenthorn Walk, Hulme; Samuel McNair, 32, of Wharf End, Trafford Park; Ateeque Brown, 24, of Bryony Close, Wythenshawe; and Elias Abubakar, also 24, of Rockdove Avenue, Hulme; have all pleaded not guilty to conspiring to possess a firearm with intent to endanger life.

Mr Finni also denies possessing ammunition without a firearm certificate, while Mr Derbyshire has denied possessing a prohibited firearm.