Two 16-year-old boys have been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of 14-year-old Kelyan Bokassa, who was stabbed 27 times with machetes on the top deck of a bus in Woolwich, southeast London. The killers, who smiled during the 14-second attack, were ordered to serve a minimum of 15 years and 10 months at the Old Bailey on Friday.
The attack occurred on January 7 on the 472 bus in Woolwich Church Street. Kelyan, who was carrying a knife in his waistband, sat on the back seat and appeared concerned for his safety before the two defendants boarded the bus around 20 minutes later. Prosecutor Deanna Heer KC said the boys walked towards Kelyan 'with purpose', pulling out identical machetes and immediately stabbing him without speaking.
CCTV footage showed Kelyan trying to defend himself with his school bag as he was cornered on the back seat. He was heard screaming 'help, I've been stabbed' and calling out 'I want my mum' as he lay dying. After the murder, the killers appeared in celebratory Snapchat videos, smoking, smiling and dancing.
In a powerful victim impact statement, Kelyan's mother Marie Bokassa told the court: 'You didn't just take a life, you shattered an entire world. You broke a family, you broke the future. You left me as a mother dead inside, with wounds no justice could ever heal.' She described her son as a budding artist and cook who was 'kind and considerate'.
Judge Mark Lucraft KC, the Recorder of London, said: 'It is the senseless loss of yet another young life to the horrors of knife crime.' The teenagers were arrested on January 15 in a raid on the home where they were staying. Mrs Bokassa vowed to campaign against knife crime and urged that the killers receive help before being released.
