Six members of a teenage gang were found guilty today of the unprovoked murder of a 14-year-old boy near his home in east London.
Shaquille Smith had been out late in the evening with his 16-year-old sister and an 18-year-old friend in a park in Hackney in August last year.
They were attacked shortly before midnight by the gang, who police said had set off on their bicycles looking for someone to "roll" or beat up.
A witness described the attackers, from the London Fields Gang, as acting like a "pack of dogs" as they swarmed across the park and climbed over a fence to get in, police said.
Shaquille's friend escaped but his sister was slashed across the face with a knife. The gang punched and kicked Shaquille and then stabbed him in the stomach. He died in hospital the next morning.
The six accused, aged between 16 and 19, had denied murder but were found guilty by a jury at the Old Bailey. They will be sentenced on July 10th.
"Shaquille was a totally innocent young boy with no connection to any gang," said detective chief inspector Carl Mehta.
"The defendants involved in Shaquille's murder are gang members who can never understand the huge amount of harm and grief they cause to families and communities by the mindless violence they inflict on others."
Shaquille was one of 29 teenagers murdered in London last year, of whom 22 were stabbed.
So far this year nine teenagers have been murdered in the capital, although police say they are making progress in reducing knife crime.
Reuters