Killer Of Ghanaian Teenager Jailed In London
A Nigerian youngster, Chester Dauda, 21, who stabbed and killed a 17-year-old Ghanaian teenager, Stephen Boachie, in the United Kingdom, has been jailed for life.
The accused was said to have stabbed the deceased in the heart shortly after he had left a New Year's Eve party last year.
Stephen Boachie, an A-level student, was stabbed to death on a garage forecourt after a row with the Nigerian.
Stephen, who was known as Kofi, arrived in the UK six years ago and was hoping to study at Birmingham University to become an engineer.
CCTV film shown in court showed him happily chatting with girls inside the pub just before his death. The row erupted after Stephen spoke to a girl Dauda had been out with that night.
The accused collected a knife from a friend's car and stabbed Stephen twice before being dragged into a waiting car by friends.
Dauda, who is nicknamed KB, was convicted of murder by a jury at the Old Bailey and was recommended for deportation. He was jailed for life and ordered to serve a minimum term of 14 years which means he could only be pardoned after 14 years.
Stephen's father, Mr Kwasi Boachie, 51, who was in an emotional state, said, “It is hard to accept we brought Stephen over from Ghana to the UK to have a better education and prosperous future, but all that has been dashed by the act of a murderer in this craze of knife carrying gangs.”
He paid tribute to his “live wire, hardworking” son, who was “always ready to help, dedicated to his schoolwork, household chores and Christian activities”.
Prosecutor Mark Ellison QC said: “There was initially a bit of a scuffle between them, but no more than that.Clearly angered by what had happened, the defendant went back to a car he had been in which was parked just over the other side and returned to Stephen Boachie and stabbed him twice in the upper body. He was pulled off him by others.”
Witnesses saw him clutching a knife in his hand and then a 'silver flash' as he plunged it into the teenager's chest.
Surgeons from the Helicopter Emergency Service were seen performing open heart surgery at the scene to try and close a hole in the right ventricle but failed. He was declared dead at 10.55 p.m. on January 1, 2008.
SOURCE: DAILY GRAPHIC