The killer attacked the man after learning the victim had put a price on his head, a court hears.
A murderer who slashed the "head of a crime gang" in the neck in a prison attack has been jailed for a further four years years.
Donald Gaote-Oueyeya, 26, stabbed the man, who was dubbed the "Godfather of Newcastle", in Durham's HMP Frankland after learning the victim had put "a price on his head", Teesside Crown Court heard. Gaote-Oueyeya was serving a life sentence for killing a 17-year-old boy in a London gang attack when he was also 17. He was found guilty of intentionally wounding the inmate, but admitted assaulting a prison officer who suffered minor cuts when he broke up the April 2025 attack.
Gaote-Oueyeya was one of four people who "chased down" and stabbed a 17-year-old boy in a gang attack in Wandsworth in 2017, prosecutor Anthony Pettengell said. The killer, who must serve a minimum term of 18 years, was being held on HMP Frankland's G-wing when he encountered the other inmate, the court heard.
At about 18:00 BST on 30 April, both men were out of their cells on "association" time when Gaote-Oueyeya walked up to the man on a prison landing and repeatedly slashed at him with an improvised blade fashioned from cutlery, the court heard. Gaote-Oueyeya launched the attack after learning the victim had "put a contract out" on him and the killer "feared serious violence at his behest", judge Francis Laird KC said.
A prison officer broke up the attack and suffered several cuts, although his injuries were minor and the judge accepted they were not done deliberately by Gaote-Oueyeya. In a statement read to the court, the prison officer said he still thought about the attack and it had made him realise staff were "not fully safe in the jail".
The victim, who did not co-operate with the prosecution, suffered a 7cm long "fairly deep" slash to the left side of his neck and superficial cuts to his forehead and finger, the court heard. In mitigation, Christopher Dunn said there was no excuse for Gaote-Oueyeya's actions but there was a "context". He had been told there was a "price on his head for reasons he did not understand" but had very limited choices on how to react, Dunn said.
He could not go to the authorities as he would be labelled "a grass", which would render the remainder of his sentence a "misery", nor could he "reason" with the victim who was described in court as "not a reasonable man".
"The only way in that context he could make sure he was safe was to send a message he was not going to be a victim," Dunn said. He said Gaote-Oueyeya was "frightened" and faced a "credible and real threat" from a man "described as the Godfather of Newcastle". The court heard Gaote-Oueyeya was not from the UK and had been working well in prison with a view to going "back to France" upon his eventual release.
Judge Laird said the attack had taken some planning and was carried out "without warning or immediate provocation". He said the victim "had a reputation of being the head of an organised crime group" and Gaote-Oueyeya "felt it necessary to make it clear" to the man he would not "stand by and allow" himself to be attacked. His four years, which also included time for assaulting an emergency worker which Gaote-Oueyeya admitted, will be served consecutive to his murder sentence.
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