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yesterday

Four Teenagers Convicted Over Fatal Woolwich Machete Attacks

Verdicts have prompted fresh calls from bereaved families for stronger interventions to curb senseless youth knife violence

Kelyan Bokassa and Daejaun Campbell, aged 14 and 15, were killed within four months of each other
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Overview

  • A 17-year-old was found guilty of murdering 15-year-old Daejaun Campbell and 19-year-old Marko Balaz was convicted of manslaughter in the September machete ambush on Eglinton Road
  • Two 16-year-olds pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to the January murder of 14-year-old Kelyan Bokassa and were ordered to serve minimum terms of 15 years and 10 months
  • Prosecutors said both victims had been groomed by rival Woolwich gangs such as Wildbatch and WoolyO and targeted in ‘G-check’ ambushes that turned deadly when machetes were drawn
  • Marie Bokassa and Jodie Taylor, the mothers of Kelyan and Daejaun, have publicly urged authorities to step up measures against youth gang violence
  • Sentencing hearings for the convicted teenagers are scheduled for early October as concern grows over gang-driven knife violence in south-east London