Two teenagers have been given life terms for murdering a schoolboy.
Kwame Ofosu-Asare, 17, was mistaken for a rival in a “poisonous and senseless” gang war. He was knifed to death in daylight while walking with a friend through Moorlands Estate in Brixton, south London, in March.
Nelson Idiabeta, 18, of no fixed address, and Nathaniel Okusanya, 19, from Lambeth, south London, were found guilty of murder.
Sentencing them at the Old Bailey, Judge Richard Marks ordered that Idiabeta serve a minimum term of 19 years and Okusanya 20 years.
He told them: “It was Kwame’s misfortune to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Neither of you has shown one iota of remorse for what you did.”
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.”
He added that Kwame was not a member of either gang. He had been to a recording studio in the area.
Kwame was stabbed repeatedly in the back and received a total of 14 wounds while walking in Adelaide Close with a friend.
They tried to get away by going into a side road where the friend’s aunt lived, but the aunt was not home and they were trapped in a cul-de-sac.
The court heard that the attack had its roots in a feud between the TN1 (Trust No-One) gang from the Tulse Hill area of south London and Brixton-based GAS (Guns and Shanks).
Idiabeta and Okusanya were members of the TN1 group out to avenge one of their number who had been stabbed in a bus garage attack carried out by the GAS gang earlier in the day.
Kwame’s father, Kwaku, a sports journalist, told the court in a statement that his son was full of potential.
He was in the sixth form of Forest Hill School and excelled in sport, music and acting and had great ambitions to make something of his life.
Mr Ofosu-Asare said: “Kwame was a very vibrant, energetic and enthusiastic boy. His brother and sister are struggling to cope with his death. All our lives have been ruined.”