a member of the TN1 gang – ‘Trust No One,’ was chased and then stabbed
through the heart just yards from his school gates in the revenge attack
in South London in July last year.
As Olumegbon, whose street name was ‘Little Zac’ walked into school
at 8.45a.m. four members of the Guns and Shanks (GAS) gang, two then
aged 15 and two aged 16, leapt from a waiting car and stabbed him four
times, twice in the chest and once each in the neck and buttocks.
Teachers
from Park Campus School in West Norwood raced to the scene but could
not save him as the five escaped in a stolen Nissan Almera car.
The day before he was murdered Zac had spoken at a conference on youth crime.
Gang
members, Helder ‘Mad H’ Demorais, 17, Ricardo ‘Maggi’ Giddings, 17,
Jamal ‘J-Kid’ Moore, 17, and Kyle ‘Clickz’ Kinghorn, who was 18
yesterday, were found guilty of murder and face life sentences.
Shaquille
Haughton, aged 16, burst into tears and put his head on a prison
officer’s shoulder as he was cleared of murder, but convicted of
manslaughter.
All five defendants are from south London and will be sentenced on December 21.
As the guilty verdicts were read out there was crying from the public gallery.
At
the Old Bailey, Judge Giles Forrester lifted a ban on reporting the
identities of the gang, who were aged 15-17 at the time of the attack.
Describing
the day of Zac’s murder, prosecutor Ed Brown QC said: “Before he was
able to start his school day he found himself hounded down and killed by
these five defendants, armed as they were with at least two knives.
“As he ran from them he was separated from his school friends, chased, caught and stabbed to death.
“Given
the knives and the determination with which his attackers acted, once
caught there was likely to be only one outcome, that he would receive
really serious and plainly life threatening injuries, just as was
intended, just as occurred.
“Another young schoolboy was also
stabbed with a knife immediately outside the school. He was lucky, he
survived and in the event did not suffer the fatal injuries that Zac.”
The
youths were armed with at least two knives and had deliberately been
driven to the school to attack Zac, jurors heard, likely in a revenge
for an attack on a GAS gang member.
The murder was the climax of a
south London gang rivalry between TN1 from Tulse Hill and the GAS gang
from the Angel Town Estate in Brixton.
Two weeks earlier, in mid
June, a GAS gang member had been stabbed by a TN1 gang rival when Zac
was ‘present if not at the stabbing then certainly shortly beforehand.’
Another young boy was injured in the confrontation but all the signs were that Zac was the ‘prime target’, said Mr. Brown.
He
added: “The reality of the events that were to lead to Zac’s death is
that it had its origin in the dreadful but certain fact of rivalry
between young gangs.
“Needless posturing that on occasion led to violence and occasion serious violence and death. “It was a tragic and terrible waste of a young life.”
Mr.
Brown said the defendants were members of the GAS gang from Brixton,
while Zac was associated with the rival TN1 (Trust No-One) gang from
Tulse Hill.
“Zac was a member of it and was known as Little Zac,’ said Mr Brown.” His mother Shakira told the court of the pain of losing her youngest child.
In a statement to the court, she said: “The scene that confronted me when I reached the school is indescribable. Even though Zac was young, he touched many lives. This
is our life sentence. It feels like the 15 years I spent raising my son
and all the hopes and dreams I had have been in vain. I never thought I would bury any of my children, let alone my baby boy. He was snatched away in such a cruel and heartless way.”
She said Zac had attended a conference which was helping him turn his life around.
She
said the day before his death Zac had spoken at a conference about
youth crime and she noticed a change in him and he was “finally making a
change and hoping to become an inspiration” for others.
“He told me he wanted to help young people facing the same problems,” said Mrs. Olumegbon.
The youths will also be sentenced for wounding another schoolboy in the attack.
