Saturday, April 28, 2012

Nigerian Girl Jailed 12 Years In UK For Murder

A teenage girl who organised the killing of a 15-year-old schoolboy at Victoria Station on Facebook and kicked him as he lay bleeding to death was jailed for 12 years. Victoria Osoteku had just turned 18 when she joined a 20-strong mob armed with an array of weapons as they hunted down Sofyen Belamouadden, 15, in front of hundreds of horrified rush hour commuters at the busy London train station.

The teenager helped to set up the attack on the social networking site Facebook and then bought a £3.99 knife set from Argos, which was used to stab Sofyen at least nine times. Osoteku was then seen kicking the victim as he lay helpless on he ground with stab wounds to his heart and right lung. The Old Bailey heard Osteku claimed she just ‘nudged’ him with her foot ‘to see if he was okay’.
But Osoteku, now aged 20, was convicted of manslaughter after giving evidence for 21 days – the longest testimony at the Old Bailey in recent years – in a four month trial.She was also found guilty of conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm but the jury was unable to reach a verdict on the charge of murder. Sentencing her to 12 years in a young offenders’ institution, Judge Christopher Moss QC told her: ‘You played a pivotal role in the events of and leading up to that day and must take a substantial share of the responsibility for that.’ Osoteku is the 13th teenager to be sentenced for her part in the killing. Her jail term brings the total sentences handed down to 12 years.