The family of a woman who was killed by a long-term cannabis smoker have said they feel “absolutely betrayed” by the justice system, after he was handed a hospital order for manslaughter.
Gogoa Lois Tape, 28, was detained under the Mental Health Act for strangling Kennedi Westcarr-Sabaroche, his 25-year-old girlfriend, in Hackney, east London, in April last year.
Tape had lured his victim under false pretences after asking for a lift to a “plumbing job”, according to The Times.
Ms Westcarr-Sabaroche was then strangled to death in her car outside his home, where the couple’s one-year-old daughter slept inside.
Tape then drove around Ms Westcarr-Sabaroche’s body for nearly two hours, bought cigarettes and sent a message from her phone to a friend of the young woman.
Six-and-a-half hours after the killing, he confessed to his brother what he had done, the prosecution said.
Ms Westcarr-Sarabroche had previously been involved with the Prince’s Trust, after joining the organisation as a digital marketing apprentice aged 16.
Gogoa Lois Tape, 28, was handed an indefinite hospital order for the manslaughter of Ms Westcarr-Sabaroche – Metropolitan Police
Her mother told The Times that following her death, the King – who was head of the apprentice scheme – wrote “lovely letters” to her family.
Tape was originally accused of murder, but a guilty plea to manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility was accepted by prosecutors.
Ms Westcarr-Sabaroche’s loved ones sat in the well of the court during the sentencing, with some walking out when statements by members of the defendant’s family were read by the defence, describing him as a loving person before his mental health deteriorated.
‘Undiagnosed schizophrenic’
Judge Freya Newbery handed Tape a hospital order under Section 37 of the Mental Health Act with a restriction order under Section 41, which means he can be detained indefinitely.
The judge said Tape was at the time of the attack an “undiagnosed schizophrenic” who held “paranoid and persecutory delusions” which “substantially impaired” his judgment and self-control.
However, Linda Westcarr, the victim’s mother, said she felt “betrayed by the system” and demanded an urgent review of Tape’s sentence, which she said was “without any penal element, no punishment”.
Linda Westcarr, the victim’s mother, read a statement outside court – Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire
She said she felt “absolutely betrayed by the system”, adding: “The system has failed us in many ways – failed to support us, failed to explain to us the decisions that they have made.
“We haven’t been consulted with, we’ve been dictated to. That needs to change.”
Leon Westcarr, Ms Westcarr-Sabaroche’s brother, said the family felt let down by the lack of transparency they have experienced throughout the process surrounding her death.
“The information that’s been given to us from the police, the prosecution, it’s all been us asking them what’s going on,” he said.
‘Dark thoughts’
The court heard the defendant had smoked cannabis since 2014 and had some contact with mental health services in 2023 and was “warned to abstain, but would smoke cannabis afterwards”.
In April 2023, Tape was seen in A&E and it was noted he had described “dark thoughts that had been going on for a number of weeks”, and these thoughts “were around harming others in the context of self-defence”.
Then in Dec 2023, the court heard, Tape told his GP he was no longer experiencing paranoia and later admitted to cannabis use in the second half of 2023 and early 2024.
Commenting on the case, Ellie Butt, head of policy and public affairs at the domestic violence charity 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.”
Ms Butt added: “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.”
