London: A teenage gang who hacked a boy of 15 to death in front of horrified commuters received sentences totalling more than 100 years on Friday.
Sofyen Belamouadden was punched, kicked and stabbed in a murder planned on Facebook following a feud between his school and a sixth-form college.
A pack of up to 20 students aged between 15 and 18 went to London Victoria underground station in London armed with a set of kitchen knives bought for £3.99 (Dh23) from Argos, a Samurai sword, flick knives, metal bars and extendable batons which were used to batter the GCSE pupil with "indescribable aggression".
Samson Odegbune held the 12inch (30cm) sword above his head as he, Christopher Omoregie and Obi Nwokeh led the chase of the victim in the ticket hall during the early-evening rush hour.
Sofyen, a promising footballer, was stabbed nine times in the lungs and chest in a 12-second attack.
As the ringleaders of the attack, Odegbune, 18, Omoregie, 18, and Nwokeh, 19, were sentenced to a minimum of 18 years behind bars after being convicted at the Old Bailey of murder and conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm.
Judge Christopher Moss QC ordered the three to be detained at Her Majesty's Pleasure — the juvenile equivalent of a life sentence owing to their ages at the time of the killing.
He added: "None of you has shown any kind of remorse. Nor do you in any way acknowledge responsibility for the killing."
A further three teenagers, Adonis Akra, 18, Samuel Roberts, 19, and Femi Oderinwale, 18, were convicted of manslaughter and given 12 years' detention each.
‘Simmering tensions'
Tyrone Richards, 17, and Enoch Amoah, 19, were found guilty of conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm and were each sentenced to seven years in a young offenders institution.
Four youths were earlier sentenced to two years' detention after admitting violent disorder. Victoria Osoteku, 19, the only girl in the gang, will be sentenced this week after being found guilty of manslaughter.
The murder in March 2010 was sparked by "simmering tensions" between pupils at the sixth-form college in Ladbroke Grove and Henry Compton school in Fulham, who each regarded Victoria station as "home territory". Mark Heywood QC, prosecuting, said: "Sofyen Belamouadden was pushed down and killed in broad daylight.
"So brazen and confident were his killers, they openly carried the various weapons they used with them as they ran towards him and hunted him down."
The catalyst for the attack was a fight over a girl a day earlier in the station, which left one youth with a bloody nose.
