EXCLUSIVE Vile imprisoned rapper who ‘inspired’ 12-year-old who killed Shawn Seesahai with machete

By Rory Tingle, Home Affairs Correspondent for Mailonline

11:58 June 11, 2024, updated 12:04 June 11, 2024

A 12-year-old boy convicted of the machete murder of teenager Shawn Seesahai idolized a rapper who sang about using a rambo knife to attack someone and “rip the guts out”.

The boy and an accomplice, also aged 12, were yesterday found guilty of ambushing the 19-year-old in a Wolverhampton park last November.

His trial showed how the boy – who owned the murder weapon – was fascinated with knives and was followed by London rapper SJ, real name Jayden O’Neill-Crichlow, who is currently serving a prison sentence in life for another machete murder.

SJ (Slim Jim) is serving a life sentence for killing a rival gang and his tracks regularly feature shockingly violent lyrics, including references to “sassy” blades, i.e. covered in blood.

The boy sent his young co-accused and a schoolgirl a photo of himself with the 16-inch zombie knife they used to kill Mr Seesahai with the caption “Prison Freestyle” – the name of a songs by O’Neill-Crichlow.

The two men – who cannot be named due to their ages – are believed to be the youngest convicted murderers since Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, both aged 11, were convicted in 1993 of the murder of two-year-old James Bulger.

In February 2019, O’Neill-Crichlow was part of a group wielding knives, a samurai sword and a gun who murdered 19-year-old father Kamali Gabbidon-Lynck in Wood Green.

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A year later, aged 17, he and four other members of the Tottenham-based NPK gang were sentenced to a minimum of 21 years in prison.

O’Neill-Crichlow – member of rap group OFB (Original Farm Boys) performed with Tim Westwood and appeared in a YouTube video with the former BBC Radio 1 DJ, uploaded shortly after his arrest.

And during his sentencing it emerged the teenage rapper was offered the £150,000 recording contract while he was on remand awaiting trial.

The trial of 12-year-old Shawn Seesahai’s killer revealed that he was a fan of SJ and knew he was a rapper who created freestyle verses.

But the boy claimed he was unaware of O’Neill-Crichlow’s conviction and “hadn’t listened to much” of his music.

Since his imprisonment, O’Neill-Crichlow has posted songs on YouTube using an illegal cell phone glorifying gang killings and describing how he “went mad” at the age of 14.

In the old video, posted online just hours after his initial trial and which has been viewed almost 50,000 times, he also described how he had “put three adversaries (from rival gangs) on my blade”.

The drill team he is a member of – the OFB collective – also posted from its YouTube account a video for the teen’s song Youngest In Charge, which includes lyrics about having his “naughty rod (knife covered in blood)” and the phrase “I just saw an opp (rival), let me take him out’ followed by the sound of gunshots.

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In 2020, O’Neill-Crichlow released a new track from inside his cell in which he describes how hard life in prison is and his regrets over the murder.

In the nearly minute-long piece, the killer said he was “rolling around with little kids” but was now “locked up with bigger fish.”

He also explained that in prison he fought with guys I don’t know and that “the life I live is different, I live across the street from the prison” now.

Of the day of the murder, O’Neill-Crichlow said: “I just thought it was a free day”, then “I got paid and now it’s played out”, alongside snoring emojis .

He also raps about how much he misses his family, saying, “my brother and sisters love me from afar” and “yeah my brother saw me cry, I hugged my brother and I I kissed.”

The rap video included broken heart and sad face emojis with captions saying “missing these days” as well as phone footage of him hanging out with his friends.

In another line, he said: “I sit in a cage and eat dinners that I can’t take away.” He then added: “I saw music as a way out. Problem, I can stay outside.

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Toward the end of the clip, the teen said, “I want to change my life, this life I’m tired of,” with a broken heart and praying emoji underneath.

Although Shawn Seesahai’s young killer insisted he didn’t listen to much O’Neill-Crichlow music, his conviction will raise new questions about the link between drill music and crimes real with a knife.

During a month-long trial at Nottingham Crown Court, it was told how the victim was punched in the shoulder before being punched, kicked, stomped and ‘chopped’ with a machete.

The court heard they attacked the victim with such force that with one blow the machete almost went through his body.

Mr Seesahai, from Anguilla in the Caribbean, was also slashed on the legs, kicked, punched and punched so hard on the head that a piece of bone broke off, prosecutor Michelle said Heeley KC.

He died at 9.11pm on November 13 last year after police were called to the scene at 8.37pm.

Evidence on the killer’s phone showed the youngster had searched for machetes online on sites where the deadly weapons were on sale for as little as £20.

The boy, who was holding an anti-fidget device/toy at the stand, told jurors he bought the machete because he “thought it was cool” to have one – and said after the murder, he had cleaned the blade with bleach because “I’ve heard it in music videos when they talk about it, bleaching it.”

He claimed that instead of obtaining the weapon online, he paid £40 to a “friend of a friend” for the murder weapon two months before killing Mr Seesahai.