A Croydon man has been sentenced to life in prison for shooting a young couple 16 times at a home in Purley.
Zarak McKoy, 23, of Hambrook Road, will serve a minimum of 10 years behind bars after he was found guilty of two counts of grievous bodily harm with intent and possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life following a five-week trial at Croydon Crown Court.
He was cleared of attempted murder, but Judge Warwick McKinnon said he had “no alternative” but to sentence McKoy to life imprisonment.
On learning his fate, he stood up in the dock and told McKinnon to “suck your mum, rudeboy” before leaving the court.
McKoy’s father also confronted the judge before being dragged from the room by security staff.
McKoy was arrested at an address in Mitcham on July 16 last year, 10 days after the attack on 20-year-old Channel Wilson and Shaquille Forde-Morgan, 19, at Wilson’s South Croydon flat at about 3am.
Both survived the gunshot wounds.
McKoy went to the Kingsdown Avenue home with another man, his friend Jarrelle Francis, who police are still trying to trace and who is believed to be Wilson’s ex-partner.
They forced their way into the flat with a gun, entering one of the bedrooms and shooting the victims before fleeing the scene.
The attack followed an earlier event at the Purley address, in which Wilson had received a knock at her front door from a person she knew, but refused to let him in because she feared for her safety.
An argument took place through the locked front door before the person left.
“I am pleased that McKoy has been jailed for a significant period of time,” DC Peter Whibley, of the Trident Shootings Team, said.
“He went out that morning intent on causing fear and intimidation.
“When the victim did not open the door, he forced his way into the address and without hesitation repeatedly shot her and her boyfriend.
“The injuries that both victims received were significant.
“Between them they received 16 gunshot wounds.
“It is sheer luck that they survived these injuries.”