Jonathon Matondo

Jonathon Matondo was shot in the head in Nottingham Cliff Park.

A man was tried for his murder but acquitted after two trials. At the first trial the jury had failed to reach a verdict.

It was said to have been a revenge attack for a shooting the evening before on the home of the man accused's uncle in Pitsmoor. However, the man tried said that he had been elsewhere at the times of both incidents.

He had been arrested two days after the murder and police found firearms residue on his clothing. However, he said that he had come into contact with a lot of people in that time and it could have come from anywhere.

He was also an albino and had poor sight and said that he could not see anyone at the distance of 60 feet which it was said that Jonathon Matondo had been shot at and that he had wobbly eyes.

Jonathon Matondo had become involved with a gang that was at war with another gang. Earlier on in the afternoon at 4.15pm a gang of youths in hooded tops had fired shots at a rival gang on Melrose Road in Burngreave who had then barricaded themselves into a flat in a block of flats that was used to house ex-offenders. Whilst they were in the flat four hooded youths with guns waited for them outside, firing the odd shot at anyone that appeared from the flat. It was said that the police were not called to the incident but that members of the police had been meeting community leaders nearby at the time.

At one point a man said 'I saw four men crouching down behind a car. They were dressed in black and their faces were covered in black cloth, all I could see were their eyes. They saw me and started walking away, they then started running down the street.'.

Later the group left the flat and went to Nottingham Cliff Park by which time Jonathon Matondo was with them. A red laser light was seen in the dark pointing towards them and then some shots were fired and Jonathon Matondo was shot in the head and fell to the ground.

The group of youths that had carried out the shooting were then seen to run away, with one of them shouting 'He's dead, he's dead, he's dead'.

His post-mortem stated that he had died from a single gunshot wound to the head.

The shooting was said to have been gang related and was described as a Wild West style shootout. It was said that the two feuding gangs came from the S3 and S4 postcode areas.

Jonathon Matondo was an asylum seeker from the Congo who had come to the UK with his mother and father. He had lived on Verdon Street in Burngreave.

Jonathon Matondo was said to have been a regular church goer but that about two months before his murder he had stopped going and it was thought that it was because he had become embroiled in the gang culture. He was also a rap artist and went by the names of Venomous, VenDawg and The General.