Rel­a­tives of mur­dered Diego Mar­tin labour­er Ha­keem Bak­er are call­ing for stronger ac­tion to pre­vent fur­ther es­ca­la­tion of vi­o­lent crime.

Po­lice said Bak­er, 28, was leav­ing Sun Val­ley Ex­ten­sion, La Canoa Road, San­ta Cruz, in his sil­ver Nis­san B14 at about 8.30 pm on Wednes­day when he was am­bushed by gun­men.

In­ves­ti­ga­tors be­lieve Bak­er drove in­to a ditch while try­ing to evade his at­tack­ers but was pur­sued as the gun­men con­tin­ued fir­ing at him. His body was lat­er found slumped in the pas­sen­ger-side seat, lead­ing in­ves­ti­ga­tors to sus­pect he had at­tempt­ed to es­cape the killers.