Wow, this is truly a sad story. In the UK, Victoria Osoteku will be sentenced for her role in the killing of a 15-year-old promising soccer player, Sofyen Belamouadden. Four other Nigerian teens have been sentenced for the crime. Osoteku was found guilty of manslaughter in the latest of a series of trials of 20 defendants, including from south London. According to Punch:
Victoria, the only girl charged in the incident, was part of a 20-youth mob, who allegedly carried out the attack and killing in the ticket hall of the crowded and popular Tube station in front of terrified commuters during the 5.00 p.m. rush hour.
The killer squad included a pastor’s son, Femi Oderinwale, 18, who was jailed for 12 years for manslaughter and the trio of Samson Odegbune, 18, Obi Nwokeh, 19, and Christopher Omoregie, 18, who were jailed each for life but would serve a minimum of 18 years.
Victoria, according to the court, had suffered shocking abuse as a child, used social networking site, Facebook to recruit “troops and weapons.”
She was captured on Close Circuit Television (CCTV) kicking the victim as he laid on the ground. The court was told that the mob, whose members were 15 at the time, were armed with an entire set of kitchen knives, flick knives and other weapons that included metal bars and batons.
Jailing the trio of Omoregie, Nwokeh and Odegbune at Her Majesty’s Pleasure (life sentence) on Friday, Moss said: “At about 5.15 p.m. during the evening rush-hour in the presence of many horrified commuters, Sofyen was attacked by a pack of teenagers. Within 12 seconds, he was left fatally wounded with no less than nine stab wounds on the body as the attackers made their escape.”
After carrying out the deadly attack, the court heard that the killers tried to escape on a public bus, but the bus was stopped by the police, who found a knife in a bag belonging to Omoregie, who was 16 at the time. Another knife with the fingerprint of Nwokeh was found wrapped in a newspaper.
