A young mother tragically ‘failed’ by society was

A young mother tragically ‘failed’ by society was jailed for life today (Thurs) for the murder of her older lover in a frenzied attack.

Janine Steele, just 19 at the time, repeatedly plunged a kitchen knife into the gentle giant’s chest.

At first she claimed it was an act of vengeance but later she maintained she feared for her own life and used the weapon in self-defence.

She claimed she had been raped at knifepoint and she wrestled the knife from Kingsley Okezie as he tried to kill her.

But a jury of seven women and five men found her guilty by a 10-2 majority after more than 12 hours deliberation at London’s Southwark Crown Court.

The court heard that Steele had spent most of her life in care, as had her own mother.

As a 14-year-old, social services noted she was
in a relationship with Mr Okezie, 32, who was twice her age.

Last August Steele stabbed Mr Okezie some 12 times in his flat in Hanover Street, Tottenham, north London.

The woman and her victim had earlier smoked crack cocaine.

Steele, of Corbett Drive, Wood Green, North London, denied murdering Mr Okezie on August 2.

The victim, a strapping six feet tall, was a sociable man who welcomed visitors to his home.

The teenager has since married and she gave birth to a daughter, by another man, 12 weeks ago.

She is still feeding the infant, who was at court throughout the nine day trial, cared for in an anteroom by a relative.

It was claimed the sentence would also severely effect the child – who will remain with her mother behind bars for the present, it being ‘almost impossible’ to separate mother and baby.

Sentencing, Judge Geoffrey Rivlin, QC, said at the time of the killing Steele had just discovered she was pregnant ‘and you were torn between two men.

‘

He said he had read a ‘courageous and moving’ statement from Steele’s husband indicating he would stand by his wife and child.

‘But as you know there is only one sentence I can pass on you and that is, having regard to your age, one of custody for life.

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Steele showed no emotion as she was led from the dock – unlike a month ago when she became hysterical at the verdict.

She had screamed.

‘I did not kill him, it’s not fair.

.

.

it wasn’t my fault.

How can you do this to me? I don’t care what you do to me, it’s my baby.

‘

During the trial Richard Ferguson, QC, defending, maintained the Crown failed to prove the killing was not self-defence.

And although he urged the jury not to reach verdicts based on emotion, he made a scathing attack on society and social services.

‘Between the ages of five and 15 she was farmed out to 25 different institutions, in only one was she happy but she was removed when funding became unavailable,’ he said.

‘You may think love and affection are alien to her experience of life.

‘You may think it was inevitable she was preyed on by others.

She was not yet 14 when she began a relationship with Kingsley Okezie.

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Mr Ferguson said in June 1995 a Haringey Social Services report expressed concerns about Steele’s relationship with Okezie, then twice her age – describing the man as ‘Janine’s partner.

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‘Disgusting, you may think, that was what was happening to that girl at that stage in her life.

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And he said a bond between his client and the dead man was first ‘forged’ by sex and later drugs.

‘Life has not be kind to Steele.

You may think society has failed her.

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The barrister said Steele was now at her junction in her life, hoping to enjoy happier times with her husband and child.

Victor Temple, QC, prosecuting, said shortly before the killing a friend of Kingsley’s had ‘phoned his flat in Hanover Street, Tottenham, and could hear Steele in the background ‘seemingly enjoying herself.

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He said immediately after the stabbing the defendant fled the flat in her underwear and a nightgown and watched Kingsley stagger from his home mortally wounded.

The defendant then returned to the scene.

Finding the front door locked, Steele used a brick to smash a window to gain entry and collect her clothing – a blood trail later showing how she disappeared down neighbouring streets, finally dressing and abandoning her nightgown in a garden.

In the meantime, neighbours had alerted the emergency services and the mortally wounded man was rushed to the North Middlesex Hospital but died of his injuries.

Mr Temple said having seen the flashing lights and hearing the sirens, Steele returned to the flat but then lied to police in her explanations of events.

‘Those lies were being told not by way of panic or stupidity but to try and explicate herself.

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The barrister said Steele’s first comments were: ‘Kingsley raped me at knifepoint, I managed to grab the knife and I stabbed him.

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But Mr Temple told the court: ‘The clear implication was that she had stabbed him not by way of self-defence but by way of revenge.

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Steele said she cut her left hand grabbing the knife.

However, when formally interviewed, he said Steele repeated her story of a knifepoint rape ordeal but ‘added’ to her explanation.

‘She added that after being raped, Kingsley continued to threaten her,’ said counsel.

‘He threatened to kill her and in those circumstances she said she managed to grab the knife and stabbed him a lot of times.

‘She claimed if he regained control of the knife, he would have similarly killed her.

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Mr Temple said Steele went on ‘at considerable length’ to assert ‘she and Kingsley had never, never, had any sexual relations’ because of their age difference.

But the QC said that was an ‘outright, blatant and deliberate lie.

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And he said it could be proved that Steele first met Kingsley at the age of 14 and a sexual relationship developed between them – a relationship that later continued ‘on a casual basis’ until the murder.

Scientific evidence would show the couple had sex that night, although there was nothing to show the act was forced.

Mr Temple said: ‘If there was a rape, was her stabbing and use of the knife was in self-defence, or does it suggest to you, as the Crown suggest, all the hallmarks of revenge.

‘Was the stabbing an argument between them, an argument fueled by the use and abuse of drugs?

‘Was the allegation of rape as a way of the defendant trying to explicate herself?’

The court heard Steele did have a criminal record.

In August 1996, Enfield Magistrates ordered her to serve 10 hours at an attendance centre after she was convicted of common assault and criminal damage.

At Haringey Magistrates in November 1998, she was placed on probation for 18 months for assaulting a member of staff at a hostel where she lived at the time.

Finally in December 1999, she was ordered to complete 100 hours community service by West London Magistrates for stealing pnds stlng 130 from a till at Fulham Football Club where she worked behind the bar.

ends