Bus attack victim, 14, stabbed by youths ‘almost instantaneously’, court told
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A 14-year-old schoolboy was attacked by machete-wielding youths “almost instantaneously” after they spotted him on a London bus, a court has heard. Kelyan Bokassa was stabbed around 27 times as he travelled home on a route 472 bus in Woolwich, south-east London, on Tuesday January 7.
Emergency services were called to Woolwich Church Street, near Woolwich Ferry, just before 2.30pm. Kelyan, an aspiring rapper, had sustained a severed femoral artery and died shortly after medics arrived at the scene. Two boys, aged 15 and 16, were charged with Kelyan’s murder.
On Monday, the defendants, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were appearing at the Old Bailey for a preliminary hearing. The 15-year-old appeared first by videolink from Feltham Young Offender Institution and spoke only to confirm his identity. Prosecutor Tom Little KC told the court the victim was sitting on the back seat of the bus when he was attacked by two youths both armed with “lengthy machetes”.
He said: “It is clear this is not a form of spontaneous incident. The two defendants must have known the deceased was on the bus. “They approach him and almost instantaneously the two of them pull out machetes and attacked the deceased. “He is stabbed or attempted to be stabbed on a total of 27 occasions before the defendants made their way off the bus.”.
