London - A 15-year-old schoolboy was killed in a vicious knife attack, planned on Facebook, during rush hour at London's Victoria station, the Old Bailey heard on Tuesday.
Student Sofyen Belamouadden was “hunted down” by a heavily armed group of 20 teenagers before being stabbed, punched and kicked, jurors were told.
Belamouadden was killed after tensions between pupils from two west London schools, some of whom saw the station as “home territory.”
Prosecutor Mark Heywood said the attack on the schoolboy took place in broad daylight in front of hundreds of commuters in the heart of London, the Press Association reported.
The boy's father Abdeslam left the court in tears as jurors were shown CCTV footage of him being set upon and left lying on the floor.
Belamouadden was stabbed nine times.
“He was given no chance of life,” said Heywood. “So brazen and confident were his killers that they openly carried the various weapons that they used with them as they ran towards him and together hunted him down.
“Such was their arrogance that they carried out that kind of attack in the heart of the capital city, in a public place, a terminus station at the height of the rush hour, and in sight of scores if not hundreds of people passing by, people going to their own homes.”
He added: “They were so heavily armed that no other individual or smaller group or even police officer or member of station staff could withstand them or stop them.”
The attack on the schoolboy, in March last year, was said to have been in revenge for a skirmish at Victoria the previous day when a boy from a rival school had been left with a bloody nose.
During Facebook chats that evening, some of the boy's alleged killers discussed what was to happen the following day, and were getting weapons, jurors were told.
On the day of the attack, two of the defendants were said to have left school at lunchtime to buy a block of knives from Argos, Heywood said.
Later, witnesses saw youths with weapons including a samurai sword, a flick knife and a Swiss Army knife, and possibly machetes and screwdrivers.
Belamouadden was murdered after being chased across the concourse outside the station by a group of 20 youths, some wearing hoods or hats or with weapons displayed.
He fell down some stairs into the Underground station ticket hall where he lay on the floor as he was subjected by some of them to a “combined, comprehensive and ultimately lethal” attack, said Heywood.
Samuel Roberts, Obi Nwokeh, Enoch Amoah, and Victoria Osoteku, all aged 18 and from south London, deny murder.
They have also pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm and violent disorder.
Four 17-year-old youths also deny each of the charges. Details of the trial were able to be published for the first time on Tuesday after reporting restrictions were lifted. - Reuters