15 YEAR OLD THUG STABBED PUBLIC SCHOOLBOY FOR BEING FROM SOUTH LONDON
A 15-year-old thug has been jailed for 18 months for stabbing a public schoolboy with a screwdriver in a row over territory – just yards from where Ben Kinsella was murdered in 2008.
The 16-year-old victim was left with a punctured lung following the gang attack in Islington, north London, after he and friends were targeted because they were not from the area.
The south London pupil and two school friends had been rehearsing for a play at the Pleasance Theatre in North Road, when they were approached by three younger boys on a bike – two 15-year-olds and a 13-year-old.
One yob snarled: ‘What are you doing in our ends? F**k off back.’
The budding actors told the baby-faced gang to leave them alone and thought little of the outburst – until one of the 15-year-olds pulled out a blue-handled screwdriver.
The armed youngster snarled: ‘Who’s the big man now? Do you think it’s a joke?’
Glenn Carrasco, prosecuting, said they saw him ‘flash it around’ and one of the victims was repeatedly punched in the face and scratched on his back by the tool.
One of the defendants, now aged 14, jumped off his bicycle and yelled: ‘Come on, what you gonna do?’
The others joined in and one threw a traffic cone hitting a boy before the 15-year-old lunged at the 16-year-old with the screwdriver.
After the stabbing the 13-year-old turned to one of the victim’s friends and warned: ‘Do you want to get killed as well?’
The defendants then chased the badly injured 16-year-year-old as he escaped to the Tube.
He was treated in hospital for a punctured lung.
Passing sentence Judge Daniel Worsley described the behaviour of the 15-year-old attacker, who has previously been reprimanded for theft, going equipped and vehicle-taking, as ‘shocking’.
He said: ‘You pressed the screw driver into your victim’s chest, through the clothing, into his lung.
‘He had to have hospital treatment. His chest had to be drained.
‘It is very lucky for you that you didn’t kill or permanently harm him.
‘You were shouting: ‘Do you want to get stabbed?’ to one of his friends too.’
Member of the boy’s family wept as he was led into the dock to custody, and he said to them: ‘See you later.’
The court heard since the attack he has moved away with his family and made different friends in an attempt to change his influences.
The judge said he had seen references which suggest he ‘can be a decent young man’.
Ben Kinsella was stabbed 11 times in five seconds as he was out celebrating the end of his GCSEs on June 28, 2008.
He had been with friends in Shillibeers Brasserie Bar, on North Road, prior to the attack.
His sister, former EastEnders actress Brooke Kinsella, led a successful campaign to raise the minimum sentence for knife murder from 15 to 25 years.
The 15-year-old defendant admitted wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and affray.
The other 15-year-old and the 14-year-old admitted affray.
The 15-year-old was given 12 months’ youth rehabilitation and the youngest defendant will be sentenced at youth court later.
All three are from the Holloway area.
None of the youngsters can be named for legal reasons.
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