This is the
horrifying moment gangsters chased and killed an innocent 17-year-old student
after mistaking him for a rival gang member. CCTV footage shows victim Kwame
Ofosu-Asare who was 'in the wrong place at the wrong time' running away from
Nelson Idiabeta, then 17, and Nathaniel Okusanya, then 18.Moments after the teenagers were captured running after
him and a friend, Kwame was stabbed 14 times in the back in a 'cowardly and
merciless' murder.
The 17-year-old (pictured right) was mistaken for a rival in a
'poisonous and senseless' gang war, a court heard today as Idiabeta and Okusanya
were jailed for life.The pair were
members of the TN1 gang - Trust No One - out to avenge one of their numbers who
was stabbed by a rival gang member from the GAS gang - Guns and Shanks - just
hours earlier.His killers had toured housing estates in Brixton to
find rival gang members and came upon the 17-year-old son of a sports broadcast
journalist and his friend, who had nothing to do with any gangs.
Nathaniel Okusanya, left,
Nelson Idiabeta, right
Kwame, a business student, promising footballer, a
budding actor and rapper, was walking back with a friend from a session at a
recording studio when they were confronted by Okusanya and Idiabeta in the
Moorlands Estate in Brixton.
Kwame and his
friend with a 'sixth sense' ran away into a cul de sac where his friend’s aunt
lived in a desperate attempt to get to safety - but she was not at
home.His friend managed to jump over a wall but Kwame was
trapped and then killed on March 2 of this year.He shouted out he
was from Catford and pleaded 'I’m not from round here, I’m not from round here'
but he was murdered by the pair who had persuaded a shopper to buy them at least
one substantial kitchen knife just hours before the attack.After an Old
Bailey jury found the pair guilty Nelson Idiabeta, now 18 was jailed for a
minimum of 19 years while Nathaniel Okusanya, 19, was jailed for 20
years.Sentencing Judge Richard Marks QC said: 'I am entirely
satisfied having heard the evidence the background to this terrible offence is
to be found in revenge between two gangs.
'Around
1.15pm Garfield Stewart a member of TN1 gang was stabbed 28 times while sitting
in a bus while it was stationary at West Norwood.
'It’s clear from the evidence a very short time from
that stabbing you found out about it and decided this stabbing needed to be
avenged.'Your purpose was to carry out
an attack on a GAS gang member and anyone you believed to be so.'You encountered two boys Kwame and his friend by
reason of they only being on the Moreland Estate. 'You believed them to be GAS gang members, they were
not and have no connection whatsoever with this gang.'He said Kwame’s friend managed to escape but Kwame 'was
not so fortunate'.'He was heard to
shout "I’m from Catford" saying to you he was in effect not from around there
and had no reason to be chased. It was to no avail.'He was violently attacked suffering 14 stab wounds,
three of which penetrated his lungs and one his liver.'It would have been abundantly obvious to you he was
gravely injured but you ran off thinking only of your escape.'He added: 'It was Kwame's misfortune to be in the wrong
place at the wrong time.'But Judge
Marks added Idiabeta, who was on bail at the time for robbery, and Okusanya
'have shown no an iota of remorse.'Crispin Aylett QC, prosecuting, told jurors: 'Kwame's
death was but a part of a poisonous and senseless feud between two rival gangs
of youths in south London.'Judge Marks
said Kwame’s father, a sports presenter in Ghana, described his son as 'vibrant,
energetic, enthusiastic and promising boy.'
The father,
in a statement read to the court, added: 'Hours before his horrendous death he
had gone to the studio to record a track which he dedicated to his
mother.‘The sudden and tragic death of
Kwame has deprived us of a brother, son and friend. 'He is ever present in our minds. The damage Kwame’s
death has caused the family is irreparable. Our lives have been ruined and will
never be the same again.’He was in the
sixth-form of Forest Hill School, had moved from Ghana to London in 2002, and
excelled in sport, music and acting and had great ambitions to make something of
his life.
Idiabeta, who was living
at a bail hostel in Camberwell, had been in youth court on the morning Kwame was
stabbed for breaching his bail conditions for robbery but the prosecution could
not find his file so the case was adjourned for a week.The day their friend Stewart was stabbed on the top
deck of a bus in West Norwood, CCTV cameras recorded them travelling to see him
at King’s College Hospital before heading to a shopping centre in Camberwell to
buy a knife from a Bargain Express.
When the
shopkeeper refused to sell them the weapon without seeing a passport or driving
licence they asked a stranger to help, claiming one of their mothers needed it
for cooking.The pair then got a taxi driver to take them to Brixton
and drop them off at the edge of the Moorlands Estate at
5.30pm.At that time Kwame, who lived in Catford, happened to
be walking through the estate with one of his friends after leaving the
recording studio.
Source: Daily Mail UK
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