Father of murdered Kentish Town student Mohamed Abdullahi: ‘It was hard to watch killers laughing and joking at trial’
The three men convicted of murdering Kentish Town man Mohamed Abdullahi. Left to right (unblurred faces): Dean Winston, Calvin Jerelle Collins and Kyle Sober-Froud. - Credit: Archant
The father of student Mohamed Abdullahi has told of his distress at seeing his son’s killers “laughing and joking” in the dock at their trial.
Mohamed Abdullahi was stabbed to death in York Way - Credit: Archant
Mohamed’s killers Dean Winston, 20, Kyle Sober-Froud, 19, and Calvin Jerelle Collins, 19, have been jailed for life and ordered to serve combined minimum terms of 71 years and six months.
In a statement from the family, Aydarus Abdullahi also spoke of the ordeal of watching CCTV footage of his son’s brutal murder during the court case.
Mohamed’s father described his son as a “gentle giant” who had a “soft and warm nature”.
He said: “We are struggling to come to terms with the brutal and savage nature of his death. The whole family is feeling the loss and sadness since he was murdered and our once-happy home will never be the same again.
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“We miss everything about him, his fun, kindness and laughter. I had to watch the CCTV and saw how violent the attack was – it was senseless, unnecessary and could have been avoided. Seeing the defendants in the dock laughing and joking with no remorse for shattering so many lives, including their own families, has been so hard.”
Winston, Sober-Froud and Collins were caught on CCTV punching, kicking and knifing 20-year-old criminology student Mohamed after luring him out of a takeaway in York Way on June 29 last year.
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Former Acland Burghley School pupil Mohamed, from Montpelier Grove, Kentish Town, was left lying on the pavement bleeding to death from a fatal wound to the heart and two deep cuts to his buttocks after the bungled revenge attack.
His attackers wrongly believed he was behind a shooting two hours earlier at the windows of Winston’s family home in Torriano Avenue, Kentish Town. No one was injured in that incident.
In sentencing, Judge Richard Hone said at the Old Bailey last week: “All three of you were engaged in a revenge attack for the incident of revolver shots that were fired into Winston’s mother’s home.
“You selected the wrong man and it is plain he was indeed an innocent victim aged only 20.
“This was a brutal attack executed in seconds. In those few seconds I have no doubt that there was an intention to kill.”
Winston, of Torriano Avenue, Kentish Town, and Collins, of Bloomsbury Street, Bloomsbury, denied murder but were convicted and each sentenced to serve a minimum term of 24 years.
Sober-Froud, of Bloomsbury Street, Bloomsbury, admitted murder on the second day of the trial and was sentenced to life with a minimum of 23 and a half years. They all have previous convictions, including drugs offences and possession of knives in public.
Winston was also given a suspended sentence in March 2013 for taking part in the London riots.
