Gang member jailed for hunting knife slaying

A gang member who stabbed a teenager to death with a hunting knife in front of horrified diners was jailed for at least 17 years.

Jonathan Abora, 18, and John Paul Mokonzele, 19, jumped out of a Vauxhall Astra and stabbed
Israel Ogunsola, 18, to death on Morning Lane in Hackney, on 4 April.

The attack was witnessed by diners sitting in the Legs restaurant nearby. They called emergency services and pressed their cameras up to the windows.

CCTV footage played to jurors showed Mr Ogunsola stumbling back before crumpling to the ground and Mokonzele continuing to stab repeatedly as he lies on the floor.

The hooded pair rode off in the Astra no more than 30 seconds after they had got out and made their escape as Mr Ogunsola lay dying.

Six of the wounds from the Rambo style blades penetrated deep into his chest, back and thigh.

The fatal wound cut a broad slit through the ribs on his left side and pushed into his heart.

Mr Ogunsola was treated at the scene but pronounced dead there at 8.24pm.

Abora was arrested after he was treated at hospital for knife wounds after the killing while Mokonzele fled and remains at large.

Abora denied but was convicted of murder and possessing an offensive weapon by an Old Bailey jury.

He has four previous convictions for eight offences, including two for possession of a knife, dating back to when he was just 13.

Judge Zoe Smith told Abora: ‘This matter was the result of gang based violence.

‘Your childhood was disadvantaged from the start and you were exploited and brought into a criminal lifestyle at a very young age.

‘Much of that explains how you came to be in a gang at 14.

‘I accept that Mokonzele was the primary mover, you have expressed your remorse.’

Earlier Timothy Cray, prosecuting, said Abora was driving a silver Astra motorcar when he brought it to a sudden stop in the middle of the road.

‘Within seconds of that sudden stop on Morning Lane his front side passenger had jumped out, that passenger was John Paul Mokonzele.

‘And as both young men jumped out seconds after the stop they were carrying and had out large knives, described by some as hunting style knives.

‘Now what triggered the sudden stop was that they had spotted another young man Israel Ogunsola.’

Mr Ogunsola was riding his bicycle and approached Morning Lane from a side road.

‘What happened next in the seconds that followed is that the defendant and Mokonzele carried out a knife attack on Israel that was sudden, brutal and overwhelming,’ said Mr Cray.

They closed in on the teenager, and though he managed to retreat a few yards, knife blows engulfed him.

For about an hour before the attack Abora and Mokonzele had been ‘making a series of loops’ around the Jack Dunning Estate where Mr Ogunsola lived nearby.

While Mokonzele escaped, Abora took himself to Whittington Hospital in Upper Holloway where he was treated for knife injuries and remanded into custody the day after.

Abora told police he was simply chauffeuring Mokonzele who was selling drugs in the area.

He said that when Mokonzele leapt from the car he only joined him because he had fallen over and he worried Mr Ogunsola was going to kill him.

Abora gave a prepared statement to officers which said: ‘I did not know there were any issues between them I did not expect them to start fighting, had I known this I would not have stopped.’

He said he did not know Mr Ogunsola and had no problem with him, but feared for his friend’s life.

Mr Ogunsola’s father, who was not named in open court, said in an impact statement ‘He was loved by the entire family.

‘His death was so devastating to everyone.

‘His ambition was to be an It consultant and to be a blessing to this generation.’

His brother Michael Ogunsola said: ‘I feel as if I have lost the meaning to life in life.

‘His death was very traumatising.

‘Israel was the baby of the house.

‘At the time of his stabbing I felt as if I was about to vomit.’

Israel’s sister, Elizabeth Ogunsola said: ‘Having to explain to my four year old that her uncle had died was the hardest thing I have had to do.

‘Every day I get questions from my four year old asking me when he is coming back and if she can go to heaven to play with him.’

Ali Bajwa, defending Abora, told the court: ‘There have been other 17 year olds who carry knives and who commit offences as serious as this without the benefit of mitigation such as this.

‘I am not going to read out these circumstances now as it would be insensitive.

‘He seems to have fallen in some places through the cracks.

‘He finds himself here giving up some of the best years of his life.

‘Remorse is one mitigating factor and his behaviour in custody is another.

‘In prison he has shown that there is a better side of him than we have seen.

‘He has behaved extremely well when he might have given up.’

Abora, of Dalmeny Avenue, Islington, denied but was convicted of murder and possessing an offensive.

He was jailed for 17 years and 152 days for the charge of murder with three years concurrent for possession of a knife.
ends