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Five people have pleaded guilty for various roles in the murder of Reginald Ofei-Berko in London.
They pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey court house in the manslaughter that has shocked many in London. The quintet would be sentenced on Tuesday March 14, 2017.
According to Metropolitan Police, three people “Daniel Murphy, 20 (05.10.96) of St Davids Close, SE16; Leon Dixon, 37 (07.09.79) of Brighton Road, Crawley, West Sussex; and, Mason Adrien-Dixon, 22 (11.12.94) of Dickens House, Doddington Grove, SE17 all pleaded guilty to manslaughter on Tuesday, 21 February.
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A fourth man, John Paul Gillespie 43 (20.08.73) of Carter Street, SE17 pleaded guilty at the same hearing to conspiracy to commit affray and a woman, Dipa Modhwadia, 36 (26.03.80) of Varcoe Road, Southwark pleaded guilty to an offence of assisting an offender."
In court, the police described the events of August 25, 2016 which led to the gruesome murder of 26-year-old Ofei-Berko, whose family is of Ghanaian origin.
“…On 25 August 2016 in Penrose Grove, SE17, Mr Ofei-Berko, - who was from Southwark - was sitting with two men.
Witnesses described how they saw two other men come from around a corner, running towards the victim. As this happened, the two men who were sitting alongside the victim, hit him multiple times.
One of the men took Mr Ofei-Berko and dragged him by his upper clothing into the road where he was beaten. The attackers kicked Mr Ofei-Berko in the head while he was helpless on the floor and one of the men, who had arrived on a bicycle, also used this to beat him. While the beating continued, one of the men was heard to say, "You won't do that again".
The attack was prolonged; even when the men finally ran off, one of the men ran back and started kicking the defenceless victim in the stomach. Some of the attackers were seen to run to a waiting car; this car was driven by Modhwadia. At 15:05hrs police were informed by the London Ambulance Service that they were on their way to a male who had been assaulted at the scene and suffered possible cardiac arrest.
The ambulance service attended and CPR was carried out at the scene before Mr Ofei-Berko was taken to Kings College Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 16:35hrs.”
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According to Detective Inspector Ken Hughes, of the Met's Homicide and Major Crime Command, “Reginald Ofei-Berko was stalked through the streets by this group of people determined to do him harm. He was caught in a pre-planned trap, then beaten and kicked to death while he lay helpless. It was a vile and deliberate attack that was carried out in the street in front of horrified members of the public.
We believe the attack may have been motivated by a theft from a relative of one of the attackers, but the consequences were out of all proportion. Now a family and friends have been left devastated by the senseless death of a young man."