Shopping centre killers face life sentences

Two teenagers who stabbed a rival to death after one of the killers was ‘belittled’ in a Snapchat video are facing life sentences.

Hussein Al-Saabri, 23, died after he was knifed in the stomach in front of horrified shoppers outside Debenhams in St Anns Shopping Centre in Harrow, northwest London.

Rickarlo Williams and Jahni Menzie-Samuels, both 19, were armed with a Rambo knife and a machete when they hacked Mr Al-Saabri in front of horrified onlookers.

Jaffar Musair was also left with seven stab wounds while Hamoud Al-Hassona suffered an injury to his back after they too were attacked on 13 December 2020, the Old Bailey heard.

The knife attack was act of revenge some nine months after Williams was abused on a bus.

A Snapchat video shows Williams in his seat involved in a verbal altercation with a group of youths who film him as they call him a ‘f*****g p***y’.

One of the teenagers yells at him: ‘Sit there like a little b***h then, you f****g p***y blud.

‘I’m gonna start f*****g swinging bro, get off the bus.

‘You’re not on s**t … you’re not on s***… bring it bro. You’re s**t’.

Williams and Menzie-Samuels denied but were today (thurs) convicted by a jury of murder, attempted murder, wounding with intent and possessing an offensive weapon.

Menzie-Samuels’ mother, Karlene Joseph, 43, gave police a false alibi by claiming her son was with her at the time of the stabbings.

She denied but was convicted of perverting the course of justice.

Brian O’Neill, QC, prosecuting, said the three young men all suffered serious knife injuries during the pitched battle in Harrow town centre.

‘Their attackers were the first two defendants, Rickarlo Williams and Jahni Menzie-Samuels,’ he said.

‘They jointly attacked the deceased and members of his group in what you will hear appears to have been a planned revenge attack for a previous incident in which Williams had been mocked.’

The two killers had arrived in the area in a taxi booked by Menzie-Samuels.

‘Mr Williams, who is the taller of the two, and obviously so when we see the figure on CCTV, was carrying a Rambo knife, quite an unpleasant looking weapon, the prosecutor said.

‘Mr Menzie-Samuels, the shorter one, was carrying a machete, quite a long-bladed machete as you will see.

‘Williams was slightly in the lead as the two of them approached the group at the benches and attacked them without warning

‘During the attack Al-Saabri suffered a single fatal stab wound.

‘He ran from the scene, not very far, to a nearby Tesco Express store, where he collapsed and died.

‘The cause of death was a single stab wound to the abdomen.’

Williams stabbed Mr Musair and continued slashing him as the other teenager fell to the ground, with Menzie-Samuels also striking him.

Such was the ferocity of the attack that the tip of Williams’ blade broke off and remained in Mr Musair’s body.

Williams also knifed Mr Al-Hassona in the back as he tried to flee the scene.

Menzie-Samuels, of Harrow, northwest London, and Williams, of Loughborough, Leicestershire, both denied murder, attempted murder wounding with intent and possessing an offensive weapon.

Joseph, also of Harrow, denied perverting the course of justice.

They will all be sentenced on May 20.