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Kyle McDonald

Age: 19

Sex: male

Date: 18 Sep 2013

Place: Kambala Road, Kambala Estate, Battersea, London

Kyle McDonald was shot in the back in Musjid Road at the back of Falconbrook Primary School in Battersea and was thought to have staggered down Fawcett Close and then collapsed in Coppock Close.

He was found by the police in Coppock Close at about 7.51pm and pronounced dead at 8.14pm, Wednesday 18 September 2013. It was also suggested that the attack on him might have started outside a pub.

It was heard that shortly after Kyle McDonald was found, a Good Samaritan, who had been trying to resuscitate him was himself threatened with a gun.

His post-mortem stated that his cause of death was a single gunshot wound.

The police found a 9mm bullet cartridge in Musjid Road.

A plumber was tried for his murder at the Old Bailey but acquitted. CCTV footage had shown his distinctive white VW van pulling into Kambala Road and then leaving again soon after the murder.

The plumber was arrested three weeks later, 11 October 2013, at gun-point as he came out of a mosque on Falcon Road. Another man was also arrested for the murder around the same time.

However, at the trial his defence said that the evidence against him was circumstantial and that there was no forensic evidence linking him to the crime.

The defence also said that the police had failed to trace a dark van that had been seen in the road about seven minutes after Kyle McDonald was shot or trace a man that was said to have been seen running at the time, who was described as having cold eyes. They also said that the police had failed to investigate an empty house on Musjid Close or the possibility that Kyle McDonald had been lured into a honey trap, noting that at the time he had been going to meet a girl.

The plumber said that he had been visiting friends during the day and had had made a series of calls with friends and his family and had simply parked up in the road to get off the street so that he could exchange messages with a friend, after which he drove away.

The plumber said that later that evening, after he had left the scene the first time, he went for dessert at Afters in Tooting and then later on went back to the road where Kyle McDonald had collapsed and that whilst there, he had asked the police what was going on.

He said that he first found out about the murder from an RIP tribute on Instagram.

At the trial the plumber's defence said that it was a real whodunnit and observed that prosecution were saying, 'It must have been the plumber because we can’t find anyone else to point the finger at'.

The defence added that the plumber had absolutely no motive for killing Kyle McDonald but pointed out that many other people associated with Kyle McDonald’s lifestyle might have. It was noted that when he was shot, Kyle McDonald had been carrying £200 in cash, as well as crack cocaine and cannabis. It was also noted that he had had connections to the SUK gang.

The defence also noted that it was highly unlikely that the plumber would have been the murderer as he knew that he was seen in the area on a daily basis and was aware that there were CCTV cameras everywhere and would not have gone to the scene to commit a murder in his own, easily identifiable van. His defence said that he might as well have gone in an ice-cream van. The defence noted that the car that was seen to arrive seven minutes after the shooting was far more discrete, and noted that when the plumber did leave the scene in his van, he did so at a pretty sedate speed.

His defence further noted that after the plumber’s van was seen to leave the scene or the murder the first time, he came back, and asked what sensible murderer would do that?

His defence concluded, 'He’s a plumber and gas fitter, it is all he ever wanted to be and meant to be and is. The crown has not been able to advance on why this man, this gas fitter, would want to kill. They are asking you to take a really big leap of faith to say you are sure he committed this murder on the basis of evidence produced. It is speculation. It must have been him because he had the opportunity'.

The prosecution said, 'This defendant participated in the murder in the sense that he played some part in it. The defendant did play such a part, a vital part in the murder of young Kyle McDonald. Whether he himself fired the shot or it was someone else in the back of the van is unknown'.

However, the plumber was acquitted of murder on 18 August 2014.

Kyle McDonald was also known as Veli Goodfellaz and was a rapper.

Kyle McDonald was the tenth teenager to have been murdered in London up to that point September 2013.


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