(But was the white, baby-faced victim himself a member of a black gang? The article suggests he was, as is also brought out by Steve W.’s comment.)
has no mention of race and no mention of the race of the “animals” who murdered Nicholas Pearton, except for this coy comment by which the reporter lets us know that the killers were black:
A teenage gang chased down a 16-year-old like a pack of animals and stabbed him to death, a court heard yesterday.
The six youths—one aged just 14 and some wearing their school uniforms—screamed ‘I’m gonna cut you in pieces’, it is alleged.
The Old Bailey heard that they chased Nicholas Pearton and plunged a knife five inches through his back and into his heart.
As they made off on a bus, the killers were apparently seen bragging and laughing about the attack, with one holding a knife high above his head as he chanted the name of their gang.
In a sickening gesture of congratulations, two of the alleged killers are captured on CCTV shaking hands as they sat on the bus. Others shouted foul-mouthed abuse about their victim, yelling: ‘I wish the ****er would die.’
As the gang fled, Nicholas’s parents rushed from their nearby home to cradle their dying son who lay slumped on the ground.
His death was the result of rivalry between two gangs, t he Black Mafia and the Shanks and Guns, prosecutor Edward Brown QC told the court.
He said: ‘Some of the defendants were in their school uniform at the time of the attack—in their blazers and ties.’
It is believed one of the alleged killers had a run-in with a friend of Nicholas’s at Sedgehill School a few hours before the attack in Sydenham, South-East London, on May 5 last year.
Nicholas went to help his friends in the Black Mafia gang in nearby Home Park after hearing they were embroiled in a fight with the rival gang. But when he arrived his gang ‘evaporated’.
Nicholas, the only white boy involved, was left alone in the park, making him an easy target, Mr Brown said.
Witnesses described seeing Nicholas ‘running for his life’ as he was chased by the group wielding knives and sticks into Sydenham Road.
‘The forerunner, knife in hand, lunged twice at least and then brought the knife round in a slashing motion into the back of Nicholas as he continued to try to get away.
Hunted down: The knifed boy fled into this chicken shop
Hunted down: The knifed boy fled into this chicken shop
‘It was one stab. Nicholas cried out. The knife had plunged five inches or so into Nicholas’s back, all the way in.
‘One witness described the defendants as a group of young men acting like animals.’
Moments after being knifed, CCTV footage showed Nicholas dragging his body into the MM chicken shop and closing the door, gripping the handle to stay upright.
He collapsed seconds later as one of his hooded pursuers took a flying kick at the door.
Mr Brown said one of the teenagers conducted a ‘head count’ of the gang as they made their escape on a bus, shaking hands in a ‘revealing and sickening gesture of approval to what just had taken place’.
‘Once the head count was done, he said “OK we’re all here … I was sure one of us was going to get nicked”.’
The whole group, described as laughing and joking, were shouting chants such as ‘p***y hole’ and ‘SG boys’.
Nicholas’s mother rushed to the scene after learning her son may be in danger and found him slumped in the chicken shop.
Mr Brown said: ‘In those dreadful and deeply distressing moments she saw her son lying dead or dying inside the door of the shop. His father too was soon on the scene also very distressed.’
The knife wound penetrated Nicholas’s lung, cut through the pulmonary vein and entered his heart. He had a heart attack and was pronounced dead soon after arriving at hospital.
Six youths aged 14, 15, two aged 16 and two now aged 17, deny murder. They are all from the South-east London area but cannot be identified for legal reasons.
Mr Brown said it was alleged that one of the 17-year-olds stabbed Nicholas, but all the boys had been acting together.
He added: ‘More than one was armed with a knife.
‘It may be that the defendant who was able to reach Nicholas first, the quickest runner, was the one who stabbed him.’
The trial continues.
Arnold T. writes:
Steve W. writes:
