London teenagers found guilty over Victoria station killing

Jury finds two youths guilty of murder and three of manslaughter over killing of Sofyen Belamouadden, 15, at tube station Five teenagers have been found guilty of chasing down and killing a schoolboy at Victoria underground station in an attack organised on Facebook. A jury on Monday found two of the teenagers guilty of murdering 15-year-old Sofyen Belamouadden; three other teenagers were found guilty of manslaughter. The killing took place in front of hundreds of rush-hour commuters, and was caught on CCTV cameras in the station in London. Footage, which was produced during the teenagers’ trial at the Old Bailey, showed the group of youths surrounding Sofyen as he lay on the floor of the ticket hall on 25 March last year. In 15 seconds the teenagers, who were allegedly part of a larger group of 20 youths, punched, stabbed and kicked him to death before fleeing the station and then boarding a C10 bus. The killing was the result of “simmering tensions” between pupils at a sixth form college in west London and teenagers from other schools. Sofyen, of west London, was stabbed nine times to the body, with wounds to his heart, a lung and major blood vessels, in what Mark Heywood QC prosecuting told the jury was a “combined, comprehensive and lethal attack”. One member of the gang, Samuel Roberts, 18, told the court he joined in the violence simply because “everyone else was doing it”. Obi Nwokeh, 18, and a 17-year-old youth, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were convicted of murder by unanimous jury verdicts. Roberts, of Camberwell, Adonis Akra, 18, of Stockwell, and another 17-year-old, who also cannot be named for legal reasons, were cleared of the charge but convicted of manslaughter. Enoch Amoah, 18, of Camberwell, was cleared of both charges but convicted of violent disorder. All six defendants were found guilty of conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm. A number of other youths are due to face separate trials over the killing. Crime London Sandra Laville guardian.co.uk

Posted by on May 16, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.