15-year-old boy has been found guilty of murder after stabbing a teenager in the neck during a fight.
The boy was convicted of the murder of 17-year-old Folajimi Orebiyi after he was fatally stabbed in Notting Hill on 3 July, 2016.
He was convicted at the Old Bailey on 24 January.
Folajimi, known as Fola and from Notting Hill, died after being attacked while out with a friend on Sunday 3rd July. The pair were out in Colville Square, W11, to meet up with friends.
They were then approached by a group of boys – some of whom were known to Fola – and a verbal disagreement took place.
As the abuse escalated, Fola agreed to fight one of the boys.
As the fight began, a witness saw a boy jump on Fola’s back. Fola was then stabbed in the neck and ran off towards Portobello Road where he collapsed.
Officers attended the scene and immediately administered first aid and CPR.
London’s Air Ambulance were called and arrived a short time later but Fola was pronounced dead at the scene.
An investigation was launched by the Homicide and Major Crime Command (HMCC)
A post-mortem examination took place on 5 July at Westminster Mortuary. Cause of death was given as a stab wound.
‘D’ was arrested on 5 July 2016, after extensive enquiries to locate him. He was remanded in custody to be sentenced at The Old Bailey on 10 February.
= A 16-year-old boy [C] was acquitted of murder.
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Statement issued by Fola’s mother, Yinka Bankole:
“On 3 July 2016 my son was taken from me. Folajimi Orebiyi, a vibrant and intelligent young man, with a bright future ahead of him.
“Fola, as he was fondly called, was a Sixth Form Student, passionately looking forward to University and was working hard on his grades to achieve it.
“A week before his life was cut short, he visited several universities to ensure he made the right choice.
“He had plans to study accounting and maths was his favourite subject.
“He had no gang affiliation nor had he been in trouble with the law.
“He was a lovely young man who was loved by anybody that had contact with him.
“I single-handedly raised Fola from the age of ten months old until the day his life was cut short.
“I was in labour for 23 hours with him, yet it took less than four minutes to stab him to death, while several youths stood there and didn’t ask for help or assist him, and Fola he bled to death.
“To me this is the most devastating moment of my life. Knowing that I wasn’t there to protect my son, I will have to live with that for the rest of my life. Yet to the system, just another figure added to the statistics.
“In an act that took less than four minutes, several lives were ruined, including that of the boy that has been found guilty of Fola’s mureder. No length of time will be long enough for what he did.
“The devastation and tragic loss of Fola has affected myself, his two brothers, grandparents and all of the family, friends, community and members of the church.
“What are the Government doing about this knife crime that seems to have taken over the streets of London?
“To those young who stood and watched while Fola was stabbed, then ran away and left him to die, you might have gotten away with the law, but I want you to know that you have Fola’s blood on your hands. You all know who you are, and what part you played in my son’s death, and you will have to live with this upon you conscience.
“The newspapers and the media are more and more frequently featuring incidents involving violent knife crime, and only yesterday I am sad to read that a 15-year-old boy was stabbed to death in London. How many more of our children have to die before the Government act?
“I would like to thank the police investigation team and the Crown Prosecution Service who have been involved with the investigation into Fola’s murder.”
Ikea has revealed plans to launch a new format in London at the Millennium Way Retail Park in Greenwich that will put the focus on sustainability and community.
The company said it would submit its planning application to the Royal Borough of Greenwich in Feb.
“Sustainability is at the heart of everything we do,” said Joanna Yarrow, head of sustainability Ikea U.K. and Ireland. From the energy and resources we use, and the way we work with communities to the way we can support our customers to save energy, water and waste at home and live more healthily. Our next store opening in Sheffield, England — due to open in summer 2017 — will be our most sustainable store to date.”
New Ikea Greenwich store’s artist impression
The store will be developed in a similar size to its existing London stores which span 355,209 square feet. The home furnishing store plans to implement new elements that cater to its consumer and the environment. The store will feature a new roof pavilion, a biodiverse garden and a community garden. The location will also host a series of events and programs.
The store will be designed “to ensure energy and resource efficiency” via rainwater harvesting and solar panels, as well as energy-saving initiatives. It will also include 75 spaces for bikes, as well as 20 charging stations for electric cars. The store is served by six bus routes. The new store development will see 500 new jobs created, and the company will work with the Greenwich Borough Council and Greenwich Local Labour and Business on recruiting employees.
Richard Rands, Ikea U.K. deputy property manager, said the company wants to create a “unique and exciting space that will act as a place to meet, learn, share and shop, enhancing the ways we engage with our customers, the local community and stakeholders.”
Sustainability is an area where the company plans to invest. Last year, Ikea said it would reposition to offer more repair and recycle products.
Last year it opened a store in Reading, and plans to open new stores in Exeter and Sheffield. The company currently operates 19 stores in the U.K., and in 28 markets globally.
Ekiti State Governor and Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors’s Forum, Mr Ayodele Fayose, in the early morning on Wednesday foiled an attempt by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) from arresting Apostle Johnson Suleiman of The Omega Fire Ministries World wide in Ado Ekiti.
Johnson Suleiman The firebrand Pastor was alleged to have been preaching against Islamizing Nigeria and asked members of his church in Auchi, Edo State to resist the killings by suspected Fulani herdsmen, who he alleged of targeting Christians for decimation.
The Pastor who was in Ado Ekiti for a two-day crusade that was also attended by Fayose was trailed after paying a courtesy visit to the governor at the Government House to his hotel room by the operatives of the DSS in Adebayo area of the State capital who almost forced their way to his room but were resisted by security men of the hotel that insisted to know their mission. Ekiti State Governor and Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors’s Forum, Mr Ayodele Fayose and Apostle Johnson Suleiman of The Omega Fire Ministries World wide after the during arrest by DSS Sensing the danger, the Pastor was alerted and he called Governor Fayose who personally led a rescue mission to prevent the abduction of the Pastor and took him to safety.
The Pastor who narrated his ordeal around 2am said, “I came to Ado Ekiti for a crusade. But I had a premonition that I was being trailed after I preached that Christians should retaliate any attack or killings by the Fulani herdsmen. These Fulani headmen had turned many Christians to orphans and widowers but the time has come to protect ourselves. “I received several calls from hidden numbers trying to locate where I am and I had warned my security not to allow any Fulani man to come nearer me. So when the men of DSS came in the middle of the night I knew their mission and I had to call the Governor because if they arrest me, they will put this country in fire”.
Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose
Governor Fayose, who expressed surprise that a man of God was been trailed to be arrested by the men of DSS said, he expected the security operatives to invite him “ if they have any issue with him instead of arresting him in the dead of the night after a powerful and spirit-filled crusade in my State.
The Governor said, “I personally attended his crusade and I think it is wrong for a man of God who is armless that could be invited if they have any issue against him. Are Christians and Moslems under different dispensation of the rule of law? That’s why I went there to rescue him. Let them kill two of us together. But when they saw my vehicles and the crowd, they fled. “But we have information that instructions came from DSS in Abuja that the Pastor should be arrested.
We are not in a fascist state, Federal Government must learn to respect the rights of Nigerians and freedom of expression”. Governor Fayose noted that it was unbecoming of the Federal Government to be harassing the clergymen in the country noting that the General Overseer of Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) Pastor Enoch Adeboye was harassed and forced to resign shortly after he visited him in Ado Ekiti.
He said, “This is unacceptable, We are in a democracy and Nigerians should warn the Presidency against putting this country on fire because religion is an emotional thing”. The governor also warned security operatives against intimidation and arrest of men of God in the interest of peace and religious harmony in the country. The constitution guarantees freedom of worship”
Miss Peju Akins (not real name) was offered a chance of a better life and she embraced it hook, line and sinker!
A lady she met during Sunday service at a Lagos Church painted the rosy picture of Libya, with the streets of Tripoli “flowing with milk and honey’’, and the promise that after making money in the North African country, she would easily migrate to Europe.
“I’m lucky to be back in Nigeria alive; many died during the one-month trip through the desert, especially between Agadez in Niger Republic and the Libyan capital, Tripoli. My ‘burger’ (trafficker) succeeded in convincing another lady to make the trip with us from Lagos.
We were seeking better life, but it was a regrettable trip and a waste of almost two years of my life.’’ Peju, 26, holds a National Diploma (ND) in business administration from a polytechnic in Nigeria’s South-West. She says the first leg of the ill-fated trip, from Lagos to Kano, was fun.
Then the next call between Kano and Agadez in Niger Republic, a distance of 715 kilometres, was stressful as they had no travelling documents. “Border officials exploited us; checkpoints mounted by Nigerien gendarmes did the same. But, the horror started in Agadez. Any semblance of a road network ended at Agadez; all I could see was endless sand dunes like I have seen water at the ocean shore in Lagos. The heat and the dust were horrible. “In addition, we were considered as mere merchandise over which people haggled for prices that could favour them.
We spent five days in Agadez because the trip through the desert starts from there only on Mondays. “In Agadez, our group met hundreds of black people from across the ECOWAS sub-region, assembled for the suicidal desert trip to Libya.’’ According to Peju, only four-wheel-drive, double-cabin pick-up vans are being used for the desert trip, with each taking between 20 and 30 migrants. She says they were loaded in the cargo cabin of each pick-up van, with most of their bodies hanging out of the van, each hapless traveller holding a stick tied to a rope in the cabin, to stop them from falling off during the bumpy ride.
“Between Agadez and Qatroun, (in Niger Republic) and Sabha in the middle of Libya, we were kidnapped many times by militia groups that raped some of the ladies. There was so much shooting, though nobody in my vehicle was hit. “We were told of rotting corpses littering some areas of the desert, but our driver must have avoided such spots so as not to further scare us. Each kidnapping meant being locked up in ‘prison’ until ransom was paid. My human trafficker saw to the negotiations.’’ Peju finally got to Tripoli, after covering about 3,500 kilometres of road, mostly uncharted desert.
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Come chill out to old school Highlife, Apala, & Juju music at Big John’s Restaurant . Friday 27th January. 73 Plumstead High Street London SE18 1SB
“I thought my nightmare was over when we got to Tripoli; little did I know it had just begun. I and my fellow church member were allowed to scrub off the smell and dirt of the desert in a bathroom, and a change of dress, before being driven to a large compound they call ‘connection house’. “The ‘connection house’ is the alias for a brothel. Without much hesitation, two elderly ladies, a Yoruba and an Ibo from Nigeria, casually asked if we would like to start with ‘one-round’, ‘short time’ or ‘all-night’ patrons’’. She says she later understood that ‘one-round’ means having sex with a man once for the equivalent of N1,000 in Libya dinar, ‘short-time’ means three hours of sex for N3,000 equivalent, while ‘all-night’ means copulation from dusk to dawn for N6,000. “We both protested that we would not do ‘asewo’ (commercial sex work) and that our ‘burger’ (trafficker) only promised to get us housemaid jobs.
The next five days was hell as the two of us were locked up in a room, without food and water, and constantly beaten up. “Close to death on the fifth day, they called in a nurse to clean us up, feed us and allow us to change clothes. Then they told us we had to contact our families in Nigeria to wire N500,000 each to them or we would be drugged and forced into prostitution.’’ Peju says they were then allowed to have a mobile phone and alerted families back home in Nigeria of their predicament. “The Yoruba woman spoke with my father in Lagos and in tears, he promised to send the money within a week. My father begged them not to harm or force me into prostitution. “My co-traveller was the first to control (wire) money from Nigeria. My daddy finally sent my ransom — which he borrowed here and there.
“The matron then converted me to her salesgirl. I was in charge of selling brandy and whisky, condoms, diapers, creams and other materials the ‘asewos’ needed for their carnal jobs. “Yes, there are no babies in need of diapers, but the absorbent in them were being removed, creamed and forced down the private parts of the commercial sex workers to protect their womb (cervix) from being ruptured by their clients.’’ Peju says the absorbents were usually ‘popped’ out by the girls after sex, washed and creamed for reuse.
She says this is because the men coming to sleep with them usually take sex enhancers that prolong the act and often bruise the girls to the extent that they bleed from their private parts. “The men who come to the brothel use cocaine, ‘tramadol’, hashish (the Arab equivalent of marijuana), and many other illicit drugs, so that they can punish the girls who stay four in a room, separated by mere curtains. “I spent five months in the brothel, but not into prostitution. I was sleeping on a bare floor all the while, disturbed by the groaning and crying of the sex workers.
“One night, a girl was screaming — more than usual — and the matrons have to burst into her bed-space. An over-drugged man was stuck to her like dogs in mating! “He had to be physically ‘removed’ from the girl and his money refunded! Another girl ran mad and was defecating everywhere and putting the mess in her mouth. Her legs and face were swollen; she was always murmuring. She later died and was secretly taken to the desert for burial in an unmarked shallow grave. Her death was not even relayed to her family in Nigeria.’’
Peju left her vendor’s job at the brothel to become a khaddamah (a maid) and she was paid the equivalent of N60,000 a month by a kind Arab family. “But my main problem was the language barrier. Even though I could then understand and speak a few Arabic words, I was making mistakes when sent on errand within the house. I was with the family for about six months as maid; I saved most of my salary.
“I then became a seller of African (mostly Nigerian) foodstuffs, such as beans, gari, seasoning cubes, etc, being ferried across the desert by Nigerian businessmen from Kano. I was sharing an apartment with a Nigerian family.’’
However, she finally reconsidered her stay in Libya when her apartment was raided one night by gun-toting Libyan officials and all the residents locked up in jail for being illegal immigrants. “The raid happened when I had started making money; I was free and I even had a Yoruba boyfriend, an engineer, who was always going to Malta (Europe) by boat to fix doors, POP ceilings and other building materials. “We were put in jail and after some days, asked to pay the equivalent of N100,000 each to secure our freedom. I’ve had enough; so, refused to pay and told them I wanted to go back to Nigeria. From then on, they never allowed me to get back to my apartment and properties.’’
Peju says the Libyan immigration allowed her to purchase temporary travelling documents and escorted her to the airport to board a plane for Niamey in Niger Republic. “All the money my friends were able to raise while I was in jail was spent on travelling documents and the one-way flight to Niamey. I spent two days at the motor park in Niamey before I met a kind Nigerian man who gave me 25,000 francs (CFA) with which I came back to Lagos.
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“The jogging trouser and blouse I wore to bed the night I was arrested were all the possession I came back with in mid-November 2016. Giant mosquitoes feasted on me so much in Libyan prison that I was pockmarked as if I had measles.’’ Peju never contemplated being smuggled across the Mediterranean Ocean to Europe again because her eyes had opened to the mass death suffered by those who dared. “I am appealing to Nigerian youngsters to dissuade their minds from planning to get to Europe through Libya, especially taking the desert routes.
“Yes, there is more money in Libya than in Nigeria for hustlers, so is death in the desert or in the Mediterranean Sea. Besides, the suffering the girls go through in the brothels is worse than death.’’ Unlike migrants’ drowning in the Mediterranean that is often documented by European navies and coastguards, death through shooting, starvation and dehydration in the vast desert is largely unaccounted for. Only a small fraction of those who dare will make it to Europe.
Apart from the militia elements of Islamic State, al Qaeda and others involved in the ongoing Libyan civil wars, armed Touaregs and Berber groups use the desert routes for kidnapping and ransom collection. Some of the kidnapped migrant males are often sold into slave labour, forced to join the militias or get killed. The ladies among them, according to Wikipedia, can be converted to wives of bandits or fighters, and even sold as sex slaves to owners of brothels.
A captured migrant is a slave to the desert warlord who got him or her. The Sahara desert is in a “state of nature’’ and might is right. AK-47 assault rifle is king. Travel through the desert as “economic migrants’’ is a perilous and unworthy risk.
Davis’s stunning performance in “Fences,” which was adapted from a play by August Wilson, has received widespread praise. She even took home the Golden Globe for her role in the film earlier this month, where she delivered a stirring and unforgettable speech (although, that seems to happen almost every time she speaks.)
Before Tuesday’s nomination, Davis and actress Whoopi Goldberg were tied for the most nominations earned by a black actress. Goldberg was nominated in 1986 for “The Color Purple” and again in 1991 when she took home the win for “Ghost.”
Tests on best-selling crisps, biscuits and baby food showed raised levels of a chemical linked to cancer.
The health alert comes just 24 hours after an official watchdog warned of the risks of eating burnt toast and roast potatoes.
The latest products on the danger list include Kettle Chips, Burts crisps, Hovis, Fox’s biscuits, Kenco coffee, McVitie’s and products from Cow & Gate.
According to the Food Standards Agency, 25 products have raised levels of acrylamide.
Animal studies suggest the chemical can trigger DNA mutations and cancer.
The link to acrylamide was also behind the warning over fried, roasted and toasted foods such as potatoes and bread.
The agency cautioned that any risk to humans related to lifetime consumption and not occasional eating.
However a renowned statistician yesterday insisted the link to cancer in humans from acrylamide was extremely weak.
There is no good evidence of harm from humans consuming acrylamide in their diet,’ said Professor David Spiegelhalter.
The FSA and other watchdogs in Europe test supermarket food to assess whether acrylamide levels are above a suggested limit – IV, for indicative value.
Of 526 products in targeted tests in 2014 and 2015, 25 had raised levels. Although the agency is not advising consumers to stop eating the products, the manufacturers have been told to cut the levels.
The FSA said: ‘For all of these samples we followed up with the manufacturers or brand owners via local authority inspectors.
‘They alerted them to the findings and requested information about what is being done to control acrylamide in those products.
‘We would emphasise though that the indicative values are not legal maximum limits nor are they safety levels.
‘They are performance indicators and designed to promote best practice in controlling acrylamide levels.’
Helen Munday of the Food and Drink Federation, which speaks for the manufacturers, said: ‘Food companies have been lowering acrylamide in UK-made products for years.
‘The FSA report provides a useful snapshot of acrylamide levels in a wide range of foods.
‘At the time of surveying these products, up to three years ago in some cases, any individual foods found to contain levels of acrylamide above indicative values would have prompted a review by both FSA and the brand owner.
‘UK food manufacturers have been working with supply chain partners, regulators and other bodies, at home and abroad, to lower acrylamide levels for years.
‘To continue to make progress, the food and drink industry, in partnership with the European Commission, has developed detailed codes of practice.’
Cow & Gate said: ‘We take food safety extremely seriously and have been working hard to reduce acrylamide levels.
‘In fact, in 2015 we took the decision to discontinue Sunny Start Baby Wheat Flakes as we were unable to reduce the level sufficiently.’
The statement said a spaghetti bolognese failure was expected to be a ‘one-off result’.
M&S said all the products highlighted in the research had since been shown to have low levels of the chemical.
Acrylamide has been classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as ‘probably carcinogenic in humans’ and the World Health Organisation has concluded that exposure to the chemical in food ‘indicates a human health concern’.
Professor Spiegelhalter said: ‘Adults with the highest consumption of acrylamide could consume 160 times as much and still only be at a level that toxicologists think unlikely to cause increased tumours in mice.
‘People may just consider this yet another scare story from scientists, and lead them to dismiss truly important warnings about, say, the harms from obesity.
‘To be honest, I am not convinced it is appropriate to launch a public campaign on this basis.’
However Steve Wearne, the FSA’s policy director, said: ‘All age groups have more acrylamide in their diet than we would ideally want.
‘As a general rule of thumb when roasting or toasting, people should aim for a golden yellow colour, possibly a bit lighter, when cooking starchy foods like potatoes.’
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