Light sentences for three girls who filmed themselves killing an elderly man

Three teenage girls filmed themselves terrorising a pensioner at a bus stop before they punched him to death, a court heard.

Fredi Rivero, , 75, died from his injuries after he was pushed, kicked and punched outside McDonald’s on Seven Sisters Road, Holloway, Islington late on 27 February.

Three girls, one aged 17 and two sisters aged 17 and 15, have admitted manslaughter.

The girls were drinking from a large bottle of vodka on the bus before getting off and harassing the elderly man.

They accused Mr Rivero of touching one of them, but CCTV footage showed that he had not.

Shocking mobile phone footage showed the elderly man trying to make a peace sign towards the girls but they would not leave him alone and cornered him.

They stole his glasses and filmed on a mobile phone while they punched, kicked and insulted him.

A member of the public tried to intervene but was pushed away by one of the girls.

Police were called at around 11.25pm and found Mr Rivero unconscious on the pavement.

The victim, from Bolivia, died in hospital the next day.

When the girls were arrested one told police: ‘I shouldn’t be getting arrested because of this bulls—-t.’

Another said ‘It was my New Year’s resolution not to get arrested this year.’

Mr Rivero had moved to the UK in the 1970s on an architectural engineering scheme and had lived in Holloway since 1986.

He worked at the luxury Mayfair hotel Dukes for 25 years until his retirement.

Mr Rivero was near a bus stop walking home from meeting friends at the nearby Hercules pub when the teenagers surrounded him.

The youngest girl was aged only 14 when the attack took place.

She has a previous conviction for attempted grievous bodily harm on a homeless woman in the street in December 2024 which was also filmed on a phone.

Her sister had convictions for three assaults on an emergency worker and racially aggravated harassment.

Judge Judy Khan, KC, will sentence the girls today.

She refused an application for the media to name the three girls due to the girl’s ‘unusually traumatic upbringings and life experiences.’

Prosecutor Louise Oakley said: ‘The Crown don’t accept this incident was provoked by anything the victim did.

‘The Crown’s case is this was unprovoked violence on the street at night under the influence of drink.’

CCTV footage showed the girls unsteady on their feet brushing past Mr Rivero’s back.

He put his hands up making a peace sign and walked backwards while the girls walked towards him.

The older 17-year-old pushed Mr Rivero towards the shutters of a shop while the younger 17-year-old was filming the incident on a mobile phone.

She pulled Fredi Rivero’s glasses off his face.

He managed to retrieve his glasses but was surrounded by the girls. The 15-year-old then pushed Mr Rivero backwards.

The three girls moved towards Fredi Rivero while he continued to move backwards.

Mr Rivero was kicked by one of the girls and tried to get away but they continued to follow him.

Another man was present but the 15-year-old put her hands up to prevent him from intervening.

The older 17-year-old then punched Mr Rivero to the head and face and he fell to the ground.

Mr Rivero’s daughter Carla Rivero read her victim impact statement in court today with a green curtain shielding her from the view of the defendants.

She outlined her father’s ill health, saying: ‘My dad rarely spoke about his illness and the pain he felt and he maintained his kind, polite, gentle and friendly manner.

‘My dad has always been by my side every single day of my life. He was an excellent dad, kind, supportive and caring.’

She said he would always win at chess and was very fond of her pet dog.

‘He had friends from many walks of life,’ she said.

She said he had grown up in Bolivia and his dad worked for British Rail.

‘Friends in the local community remember dad as a kind hearted gentleman, always so polite on a daily basis. He was the nicest person you could ever meet- so kind and never bothered anyone,’ she added.

‘How can girls their age be out at that time. What’s failing in their ambience to conduce them to violence, to such appalling behaviour?

‘Wha type of generation of youth is being raised?’

The two sisters in the dock wiped tears from their eyes as the statement was read.

The younger 17-year-old has previous convictions for assaults three assaults on an emergency worker and racially aggravated harassment.

Her sister, the 15-year-old, has a conviction for attempting to cause grievous bodily harm by attacking a homeless female on the street. The assault was also filmed on a mobile telephone.

The older 17-year-old has no previous convictions.

Ms Oakley said the girls were the aggressors and Mr Rivero did nothing to provoke them.

‘They are in his face, they are the ones provoking what happens.’

In the mobile phone footage the girls shouted: ‘Why are you chatting to my sister like she’s your friend’ and ‘Don’t touch me’.

She shouted: ‘My sister is 15, why are you chatting to little girls?’

Mr Rivero asked what the problem was and the older 17-year-old said ‘you’.

She said: ‘Do you think its f*cking funny, do you think its funny, I’ll f*cking hit you.’

The older sister grabbed his glasses and then told him ‘don’t f*cking touch me b—h’ when he tried to retrieve them.

As Mr Rivero fell to the floor the girls shouted ‘chill’ and ‘relax’ before beginning to say ‘oh my God’ when they saw blood.

They then began to shout at each other to ‘get out’ saying ‘Oh my God he’s dead’.

Ms Oakley played CCTV footage of the girls getting on the bus in Camden to go to Holloway.

The youngest girl was lying on the ground drunk in front of a pedestrian crossing with the other girls holding the vodka bottle and trying to drag her off the floor.

The two sisters were caught by police shortly after the attack and told them that the other girl had pushed Mr Rivero and they had left because police were arriving.

The older sister said: ‘I promise you my sister did not do anything wrong, she didn’t do nothing.’

Her speech was slurred as she blamed her friend for the attack: ‘I don’t care if I get [her] in trouble, I did not touch that f*cking man, I did not touch him.

‘[She] pushed this man and fell, and he smacked his head and he’s going to f*cking die.

‘That’s what I’m trying to f*cking say, that dirty little b—-h, I’m going to f*ck her mum.

‘I’m not sitting in custody cos this f*cking girl touched the man, I am not sitting in custody cos this girl touched some f*cking man that had no control of… that is not my problem.

‘I want [her] to get f*cking found by the police because she’s the one that f*cking done this sh*t, I didn’t do nothing.

‘She pushed him, and this f*cking man fell like he had some f*cking disability.

‘I’ll be so real, that’s his fault, he started on us, she pushed him, and he lost his balance and he fell.

‘If he dies am I going to jail… I didn’t do nothing to him.

‘My New Year’s resolution was not to get arrested this year, it’s already done, it’s not even f*cking March, I’m done with my life, I swear to God.

‘I’m praying for him and his family, I’m going to pray for him cos he doesn’t deserve to die, like cool he got rude to us but he was just a person, he didn’t do anything wrong.

‘He just looked so dead. I was like what the f*ck I just killed someone.’

Her sister told police she had done nothing and asked them to take her to her mother.

She said: ‘You’re wasting your time arresting me, I shouldn’t be getting arrested because of this bullshit.’

Judge Khan said videos showed the girls had a history of violent behaviour.

There were 15 videos recovered from the girls phones showing them attacking random members of the public in the street while filming them.

Messages show the older sister threatening to knock out her social worker and a video recorded by her shows her threatening violence to a male in the street at night.

Another video showed her chasing a woman in the street shouting ‘fat f*cking b—h’.

Another video of her and the older 17-year-old throwing a flower stand to the floor in a ship.

One video showed them chasing a male on the street shouting ‘let’s fight’ before throwing a chair at him.

There was a video of the younger sister holding a bottle of vodka assaulting a homeless woman and a video of all three punching a man outside a restaurant and overturning tables.

In a TikTok video the younger sister created a succession of videos showing her attacking members of the public.

Another video showed the older female assaulting a man on the street calling him a paedophile.

In December 2024 the younger sister was given a 12 month referral order for attempting to cause grievous bodily harm with intent.

Ms Oakley said: ’It was incident when she and other girls assaulted a homeless female on the street it was another incident filmed on a mobile telephone.’

The mobile footage showed a group of girls viciously attacking the homeless woman outside a Sainsbury’s on Holloway Road, punching, pushing and kicking her as she was repeatedly knocked to the ground.

‘She repeatedly kicks or stamps on the victim while she’s on the ground posing no threat whatsoever,’ the prosecutor said.

All three defence barristers said the three girls have suffered difficult childhoods.

Marie Spenwyn, representing the older the 17-year-old, said she is a child who is not trying to make excuses for her behaviour.

She said she was in care from a very young age and been through a number of traumatic events.

Paul Simon, representing the younger 17-year-old, said: ‘Her behaviour was atrocious and shameful and of course resulted in the tragedy of the entirely innocent and peaceful Mr Rivero.

‘She accepts responsibility for her part in that.

‘Her offending is blighted by alcohol use. This is a young woman who when in alcohol acts with impulsivity.’

He said she feels the most safe and cared for she ever has in her life in a young offender’s institution.

Mr Simon said she regrets everything about what happened and asked that she be allowed to read a letter out in court.

The judge said it was very unusual for a defendant to be allowed to read out a letter in court but said she would not stop her.

The girl stood in the dock and began to cry saying: ‘I don’t think I can do it’, but continued.

Addressing Mr Rivero’s friends and family, she said: ‘I want to apologise for the part I played.

‘You’ve seen the videos of me and my friends being violent in the community and because of that you probably think I don’t care about what happened.

‘I want to let you know how sorry I am and how much I regret it.

‘I know I’ve caused you pain and trauma that will always be with you and I am so sorry for this.

‘You’ll be very angry and I’m not expecting forgiveness. I’m embarrassed to see those videos shown and I don’t know why I behaved like this.

‘I was drinking heavily around the offence and I was very angry. I can see how bad my behaviour was now and I regret that I did this.

‘I’m truly sorry for your loss and causing your family so much pain. I never meant for this to happen and will regret this for the rest of my life.’

Sophie Shotton, representing the 15-year-old, said she had written a letter recognising that Mr Rivero was an innocent man who would have been scared by their behaviour.

‘She expresses how sorry she is and takes full responsibility for the part she played in his death.

‘Her father recognises how his lifestyle choices have had a negative impact not just on her but his other children and they have been robbed of their childhood as a result.’

The older 17-year-old was sentenced to four years in a young offfender’s institution .

The younger 17-year-old was given three and a half years.

The 15-year-old was sentenced to two and a half years.

Judge Khan told them: ‘It is clear from everything I have heard that Fredi Rivero was a thoroughly decent person who was very much loved.

‘I am entirely satisfied that Fredi Rivero did not say or do anything to provoke the attack that was to follow.

‘He was surrounded by all three of you, you kept advancing on him and he continued to move away in an effort to escape from you.

‘There was nothing to justify your insults or your behaviour and unsurprisingly he was confused and terrified by your behaviour.

‘You all left the scene before the emergency services arrived.

‘This was a cruel attack on an elderly man who was completely defenceless and you showed him no mercy.’

She said videos showed there is ‘a pattern of unacceptable violence used by all three of you.’