Woolwich bus murder: Smiling teenage killers jailed for life for machete attack on 14-year-old Kelyan Bokassa

Yahoo

25-07-2025

Two teenage killers who smiled as they stabbed to death a 14-year-old schoolboy with machetes on the back seat of a bus in Woolwich have been jailed for life.
The 16-year-old boys attacked Kelyan Bokassa on the top deck of the 472 bus, moments after boarding the double-decker when it stopped in Woolwich Church Street.
Horrific CCTV captured the 14 second attack as Kelyan was stabbed 27 times while trying to defend himself with his school bag. As he lay dying, he called out 'I want my mum', the Old Bailey heard.
The attack in January sent shockwaves across London and provided another terrible example of the capital's knife crime problem.
Prosecutor Deanna Heer KC said the killers 'repeatedly thrust their knives towards him, smiling as they did so'.
In the evening after the murder, they appeared together in celebratory Snapchat videos, smoking, smiling and dancing.
At the Old Bailey on Friday, Judge Mark Lucraft KC, the Recorder of London, sentenced the boys to detention for life, and ordered that they serve at least 15 years and ten months in custody.
'It is the senseless loss of yet another young life to the horrors of knife crime', he said.
At the start of the hearing, Kelyan's mother, Marie Bokassa, told the killers: 'You didn't just take a life, you shattered an entire world.'
Ms Heer said the murder happened just before 2.30pm on January 7, after Kelyan got on to the 472 bus at North Greenwich station to go to an appointment at the Youth Justice Centre in Woolwich.
'Kelyan Bokassa went upstairs and sat on the back seat, next to the window on the nearside', she said.
'He himself was in possession of a knife, which was tucked into the waistband of his trousers. The footage shows that he took care to look around himself and out of the windows before he sat down, giving every impression that he was concerned for his safety.'
The court heard the killers boarded the same bus around 20 minutes after Kelyan, while armed with identical machetes.
Ms Heer said the teen walked towards Kelyan 'with purpose, pulling out their knives as they did so.
'Upon reaching Kelyan Bokassa, apparently without saying anything, they both immediately began to stab him.
'Since Kelyan Bokassa was seated on the back seat, he was cornered, unable to escape as the defendants repeatedly thrust their knives towards him, smiling as they did so.'
The prosecutor said the attack lasted around 13 or 14 seconds, as Kelyan 'had no time to reach for his own knife, which remained in his trousers and instead tried in vain to protect himself with his school bag.'
The two attackers fled the bus as Kelyan was heard screaming in pain and shouting 'help, I've been stabbed'.
Other passengers and the bus driver went to his aid as the vehicle stopped at Woolwich Ferry, and Kelyan was heard saying: 'Take me to my mum's. I want my mum.'
Delivering her powerful impact statement, Mrs Bokassa told the court: 'I stand here not just as a mother but as a broken soul whose life changed forever the day my child's life was taken from me by another child using a knife.
'I speak through the silence my child left behind, a silence that now echoes through every corner of my home, heart, and dreams.'
She told the killers: 'The life was not yours to take.
'That moment of violence may have lasting seconds, but the consequences are eternal.
'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 paid tribute to her son, a budding artist and cook, saying he was 'kind and considerate' to others.
Mrs Bokassa added that the killing was 'horrific', and told the court: 'How can children behave like this? What have the children been exposed to, to show such behaviour as this?'
She vowed to campaign against knife crime in the future, and urged that the killers are not set free again until they have 'got the help they need'.
The teenagers responsible for Kelyan's death were both arrested on January 15 in a raid on the home where they were staying.
One told officers at the scene: 'I'm telling you right now bruv, I'm not involved bruv, not f***ing involved".
He later watched the CCTV footage of the murder, and pretended not to have been involved, saying: 'Sad to see innit. Young person lose his life man, it's sad.'
The court was told both boys had been 'exploited' and 'groomed' into criminal gang, as lawyers put forward their young ages and immaturity as mitigating factors.
One put forward references from friends and family, describing him as 'warm, sociable, friendly, polite and kind'.
The other boy wrote a letter to the judge, and was said to have 'genuine contrition'.
At the start of Friday's hearing, the judge refused a media bid for reporting restrictions to be lifted that would have allowed the two killers to be publicly named.
Judge Lucraft told the court hearing the killing was 'clearly gang related', had been carefully planned and was 'premeditated'.
The court has heard that one of the killers threw his machete into the River Thames after the murder. He has a previous conviction from 2023 for possessing of a zombie knife.
The second boy was serving a youth referral order when the murder happened, for a knife robbery in Canary Wharf.
He and another male had threatened the victim and one of them showed off a machete in their trousers, forcing him to hand over his mobile phone.
The teen was also convicted of possessing a lock knife on February 25 last year, when he and another boy had been seen stabbing a wall.
Members of Kelyan's family were in court in May to hear the guilty pleas, and returned to court on Friday for the sentencing hearing.
Kelyan's father, Hashim Mohamed, told the court in a statement: 'Kelyan was murdered for reasons that we may never know and will never understand.
'I will always wonder why whatever conflict existed could not be squashed with words or in some non-violent way.
'I will wonder what it was about Kelyan that made his life seem expendable in the eyes of those who callously snatched it.'
He added: 'It has made us think more about violent youth crime and how it might be addressed and ultimately eradicated. Intellectually, it has made us question why the possibilities for joy are often fleeting for black boys like ours who exist in a world where violence, death, and criminality are normalised.'
Kelyan had briefly attended St Columba's Catholic Boy's School in Bexleyheath, which was opened by former Tory prime minister Ted Heath in 1973.
He had made rap videos on YouTube under the name 'Grippa', and his mother revealed that Kelyan had spent time in care and also living rough.
'He cares about the people around him. He loved to have his friends around and when they were round he would want to cook for them,' she said.
'He was very articulate. He knows what he likes and knows how to express it.
'He was good in music. Anything he loves... he was doing to his best ability. He was good at football... and he was was extremely good at drawing.'
Scotland Yard took the unusual step after the stabbing of releasing CCTV images of the killers as well as their names, as a manhunt was launched to catch them.
But reporting restrictions were imposed - due to their ages - once they had been arrested and charged with murder.
Members of the media applied for the reporting restrictions on the identities of the killers to be removed. Lawyers for the boys objected, saying anonymity would help their rehabilitation, expressing concern for the safety of their families and arguing that news linking them to the stabbing could have consequences for them in custody.