Two teenagers have been sentenced to at least 15 years for the machete murder of 14-year-old Kelyan Bokassa on a London bus.
Kelyan was killed on 7 January in Woolwich, southeast London, in what prosecutors said was a planned attack.
The defendants, now 16, who are too young to be named, stabbed him 27 times with machetes.
They pleaded guilty in May, with one appearing to change his plea at the last moment, and both admitted possessing an offensive weapon.
On Friday, Judge Mark Lucraft KC sentenced the two boys to life in prison, with a minimum term of 15 years and 110 days before they can be considered for parole. One appeared to smile as he was sent down.
The judge noted that during the attack, “the CCTV shows you were smiling,” and said Kenyan’s death was a “senseless loss” of another boy to the “horrors of knife crime“.
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Prosecutor Tom Little KC previously told the Old Bailey that Kelyan was attacked “almost instantaneously” by the boys on the top deck.
Kelyan suffered a severed femoral artery during the attack, which happened in the middle of the afternoon in Woolwich Church Street, and died shortly after medics arrived.
Mary Bokassa, Kelyan’s mother, described herself in a victim impact statement on Friday as “a broken soul whose life changed forever the day my child’s life was taken from me by another child”.
“I ask myself what has happened to those two boys that has resulted in that terrible act of violence and I cannot imagine how can they be so angry,” she added.
“What they did was horrific and I do not know what has led them to do this and maybe I will never.”
“That moment of violence may have lasted seconds but its consequences are eternal.”
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The incident took place on the 472 bus in January. Pic: PA
She told the court had spent her son’s 15th birthday at his graveside, and said she is scared to take public transport – particularly the 472 route, on which her son was killed.
“I feel judged,” Ms Bokassa added. “Maybe I will never recover, all I know is I will live and I will have to be strong for my son and I will have to constantly find a coping mechanism.
“He would want me to try and solve youth crime and not give up on my life. My son loved me and would want me to go on with my life.
“These two young boys took my son’s life without hesitation, they will now have to face the consequences of their actions here today.
“My only hope is they get the help they need before they ever get released into society.”
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Speaking after his death, Ms Bokassa said he had been groomed by gangs from the age of six, and she was not surprised when she found out he was dead.
Ms Bokassa said the pair had spent Christmas together, after he was previously in care for several years, but she was concerned he still had “one foot in the streets”.
She said she had tried to stop him from associating with gangs but did not get support from authorities.
One of the machetes used in the attack was thrown in the River Thames but later recovered.