The ex-wife of a drug vendor who grew up in south-east London is amongst ten charged together with his murder following a deadly acid assault in Plymouth, a courtroom has heard. Jurors have been informed that the sufferer had constructed up a £120,000 ($164,000) drug debt after a junior vendor ran off with out paying him and after additional losses by means of playing.
Danny Cahalane, 38, died after sulphuric acid was thrown over him at a property in Lipson Street, Plymouth, within the early hours of February 21 final yr. He died in hospital on Might 3 after spending 10 weeks receiving remedy for his accidents.
A mom conspired with a drug vendor to homicide her ex-husband in an acid assault to get wealthy, a courtroom heard…
Danny Cahalane trial hears his former associate took a ‘couple of grand’ to assist killers ambush him pic.twitter.com/BrPEwF1t1e
— London & UK Avenue Information (@CrimeLdn) January 24, 2026
Cited by the Enfield Impartial, Jo Martin KC opened the prosecution’s case, saying Mr Cahalane was focused as a result of he owed a “giant amount of cash” to a higher-ranking drug vendor. She informed jurors: “What does change into abundantly clear from the messages is that Danny owed Frost within the area of £120,000, and Frost was not joyful about that.”
Ms Martin mentioned Mr Cahalane was “clearly not able to find the cash” and that, in messages, he “provides excuses and tries to search out methods to delay the necessity to hand over cash”. She added: “And all that occurs is that Frost turns into more and more incensed and agitated.”
Sufferer of acid assault informed police playing losses contributed to drug debt
The prosecution alleged the debt was owed to Ryan Kennedy, recognized by the nickname “Frost”, who Ms Martin mentioned operated between Thailand, Spain and Dubai and is presently believed to be in Dubai. She informed the courtroom that messages confirmed Kennedy boasting of getting 320kg of hashish in a delivery container, with a wholesale worth of £960,000 ($1.3 million), rising to round £3.2 million ($4.4 million) if bought in single-gram offers.
Jurors have been informed that Mr Cahalane was in a position to converse to police from his hospital mattress earlier than his demise. Ms Martin mentioned he informed officers that he had constructed up the debt after one other vendor ran off with out paying him, whereas additional cash was misplaced by means of gambling.
She continued: “He mentioned that he knew that the person behind the assault on him was known as Ryan Kennedy who had the nickname Frost.”
Ms Martin added that Mr Cahalane mentioned he had recognized Kennedy since childhood, telling police that he had recognized him “from rising up on a council property – the Rockingham Property in south-east London, simply close to the Elephant and Citadel.”
Based on the prosecution, Kennedy first organized an tried kidnapping on January 19, 2025, after changing into indignant on the failure to repay the debt, earlier than ordering the deadly acid assault weeks later.
Messages recovered from Mr Cahalane’s telephone allegedly confirmed repeated threats from Kennedy. One message said: “Your gonna die….U jus must die….You finished me £80K…they developing now…I’m gonna give them additional 40k to return and take your eyes out you’r head.”
Mr Cahalane replied: “Speaking about switching me off, I’ve received the 46 lined, sorting for you, been lengthy, I’m telling you I received my little woman my man is sorting tomorrow.”
Eight minutes after the failed kidnapping try, Kennedy allegedly despatched a message from Dubai saying: “Shut name? Mate I’m telling you they gonna burn gaffes down and your gonna die.”
Describing the deadly assault, Ms Martin mentioned that within the early hours of February 21 two males broke into Mr Cahalane’s dwelling. “By the point the 2 males had pushed off, Danny Cahalane had been the sufferer of an acid assault – sulphuric acid being thrown on him, burning into his entire physique,” she mentioned.
Mr Cahalane remained in hospital for 10 weeks earlier than he died. Ms Martin informed jurors: “There might be little question that Danny Cahalane was murdered. Whoever threw acid over him should have supposed, on the very least, to trigger him actually critical bodily hurt.”
She mentioned the assault was carried out to implement drug money owed and to “educate a really important lesson” for what Kennedy noticed as a scarcity of respect.
Defendants go on trial over homicide
Ten defendants are on trial, with seven charged with homicide or another depend of manslaughter. Six of these defendants are from London, together with people from Neasden, Tottenham, Edmonton, Barking and Camden.
These charged with homicide or manslaughter embody Abdulrasheed Adedoja, 23, of Neasden; Ramarnee Bakas-Sithole, 23, of London; Israel Augustus, 26, of Tottenham; Isanah Sungum, 22, of Edmonton; Brian Kalemba, 23, of Barking; and Paris Wilson, 35, and Jude Hill, 43, each of Plymouth.
5 defendants are charged with tried kidnapping and tried grievous bodily hurt in relation to the incident on 19 January. They embody Adedoja, Bakas-Sithole and Wilson, together with Jean Mukuna, 23, and Arrone Mukuna, 25, each of Camden.
9 defendants are additionally charged with being concerned in an organized crime group involved with the availability of medicine and the enforcement of drug money owed between 1 January and 11 April 2025. These charged embody Adedoja, Bakas-Sithole, Augustus, Wilson, Sungum, Kalemba, Jean Mukuna, Arrone Mukuna and Jenna Mentioned, 39, of Plymouth.
The trial continues.
Featured picture: Devon & Cornwall Police
The publish Ex-wife among six Londoners charged over fatal acid attack allegedly linked to drug and gambling debts appeared first on ReadWrite.
