Jonty Skrufff's Blog

beheadedart.com (VERY GRAPHIC PICTURES, MAY OFFEND)

.

Two men who were involved in an incident outside the Ministry of Sound in which a man was decapitated by a car and the driver shot in revenge, appeared in a London court this week accused of murder and attempted murder.

Prosecuting lawyer Aftab Jafferjee QC said Ranjit Nankani, 30, waited outside the club for Gary Johnson, 25, Dwayne McPherson, 28, and a third friend after being ejected from Ministry after rowing with the trio inside.

The prosecutor described CCTV footage showing Gary Johnson strolling out of the club ‘without a care in the world’ before Nankini drove his Mitsubishi Shogun onto the pavement, mowing down Johnson and partially decapitating him. McPherson then pulled a gun and shot and wounded Nankini after his car hit parked cars and became trapped.

“This case is about breathtaking lawlessness on the streets of London,” the prosecutor Jafferjee told the court, “Where comparatively minor incidents inside a busy venue were responded to with murderous violence.” (BBC)

The terrifying incident happened in the early hours of a Bank Holiday Monday last August while the club was hosting a ‘Back To 95‘ headlined by UK garage legends Matt Jam Lamont, Morris Da Boss Windross and Dominic Spreadlove. Bystanders described hearing up to 8 shots fired in the street directly outside the club’s entrance with some comparing it to scenes from acclaimed US cop show The Wire.

“There was blood everywhere. It was really gruesome,” one witness told the London Paper, “There was a lot of commotion, then the police arrived. They put a white sheet over the body.” (The London Paper)

Speaking soon afterwards Ministry MD Lohan Presencer downplayed its significance, telling Skrufff ‘this was an incident that happened outside the club. I am not concerned that it has any broader implications for the club’s operation.”

His understandably cautious response contrasted markedly with the outspokenness of club founder James Palumbo who chatting to Skrufff several months earlier cheerfully admitted to regularly wearing a bullet-proof vest and carrying CS gas to work in the early 90s, following problems with gangsters.

James Palumbo (click on the picture for more on his book Tomas)

“When I was in banking I took a big risk when I started a legal action against my family which could have obliterated me financially,” he told Skrufff. “Then also during the first few years of the Ministry of Sound I took another when I could have been shot in the head,” he recalled.

“There was a business management guy at the time who used to come into the club, he was like a manager/ psycho-analyst. His job was to teach everyone the logical consequences of their actions and he said to me at one point ‘you do realise that you could be killed’. I did realise that but I really don’t think I had any options,” he said.

“Because it was me against them. At that stage in my life I preferred to face the music than have had to live with giving up. It sounds as if I was trying to play the tough guy or taking the moralising position but it wasn’t like that. I don’t think it had anything to do with money either, I don’t even think I was courageous, I didn’t feel physically brave, I just wasn’t going to give in to these gangsters,” he explained.

Jonty Skrufff : Follow Jonty on Twitter

Share on Facebook

Comments are closed.