The flashing lights of Wireless Festival felt like a distant dream for Nathan Tokosi, known to many as the rapper DigDat. Now, at 26, his life took a stark turn – a life sentence for a brutal drive-by shooting that nearly claimed a life.
On a November night in Notting Hill, a stolen Audi pulled alongside a Mitsubishi Outlander. Within moments, at least six shots ripped through the victim’s vehicle, striking Daniel Offei-Ntow in the head, mouth, and body. The prosecutor described a scene of shocking violence, a calculated attack that left the car riddled with bullets and soaked in blood.
The victim, a rival artist performing as Lugavelz, tragically died recently, but investigators confirmed his death was unrelated to the shooting itself. The court focused solely on the attempted murder and the chilling evidence linking Tokosi to the crime.
This wasn’t a first brush with the law for Tokosi. His record stretched back to age eleven, marked by escalating acts of violence – a punch to a girl’s face, a brutal attack on a boy involving punches and knees. He’d even been convicted of attempted murder once before, at the age of thirteen, for a stabbing that resulted in a lengthy youth detention.
Judge Sarah Munro KC, delivering the sentence at the Old Bailey, left no room for doubt: Tokosi was a dangerous offender. He was sentenced to life, with a minimum term of 24 years, a devastating fall from the heights of a music career that once saw his single “Air Force” reach number 20 in the UK charts.
The courtroom was filled with the quiet anguish of Tokosi’s family, who had come to support him. A silent gesture, a phone symbol directed towards them, was his final communication as the weight of the sentence descended.
Immediately after the shooting, armed police descended on the scene. They found the victim, having miraculously returned to his flat, sitting in shock, severely injured on his sofa. A trail of blood led officers to the scene of his suffering.
A search near the abandoned Audi uncovered a latex glove and a black bag containing a firearm and ammunition. Investigators painstakingly pieced together Tokosi’s movements, discovering he’d borrowed a BMW for multiple trips between his father’s home and Notting Hill in the days leading up to the attack.
The evidence mounted, revealing a clear pattern. The prosecution argued there was no innocent explanation for the presence of both the BMW and the Audi in the same location. DNA evidence linked Tokosi and another artist, Kamal Benjamin, to the Audi used in the shooting.
While Benjamin fled the UK shortly after the incident, posting images from Dubai featuring prominent rappers, the connection to Tokosi remained undeniable. Investigators meticulously tracked his movements and associations, building a case that ultimately led to his conviction.
In a final attempt to mitigate the sentence, the court heard that Tokosi was a “laidback” young man overwhelmed by the sudden success of his music career. His defense argued the “fast-paced and chaotic” lifestyle had consumed him, leaving little room for reflection.
A diagnosis of ADHD at age eleven was also presented, suggesting a history of behavioral struggles. However, these arguments ultimately failed to sway the judge, who deemed the severity of the crime and Tokosi’s history too significant to ignore.
