Knife thug convicted of stabbing teenage student Jamel Boyce and leaving him in ‘vegetative state’

Stabbing victim: Jamel Boyce's parents earlier released this heart-breaking image of him in hospital
Met Police
Lucia Binding27 March 2018
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A knife thug has been convicted after repeatedly stabbing a teenage business student and leaving him with a catastrophic brain injury.

Tyrese Orsei-Kofi, 18, was found guilty of inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent on his victim Jamel Boyce, 18, in Clapham Junction on 14 October 2016.

He was found not guilty of attempted murder following the Old Bailey trial and will be sentenced on Friday, May 3.

Speaking after today's hearing, Mr Boyce’s grieving mother Pansy Boyce thanked the emergency services for their efforts in helping to save her son’s life.

She said: "The care that Jamel received from the medical team was second to none. He fought for his life in those first few weeks and they were there every step of the way to help him.

Jamel Boyce, 17, is fighting for life after being stabbed in the chest and legs

“I also want to extend my deepest thanks to the two officers who gave first aid to Jamel, and to Dr Konig and his team for saving my son. Without their courage, determination and brilliance, my son would not be alive today.

“Lastly, I would like to pay tribute to my Family Liaison Officer and the investigation team who have been a constant source of support through the darkest days”.

Police launched an investigation after they were called by London Ambulance Service just after 7pm on the evening of the stabbing in Triangle Place, near the entrance of a supermarket car park.

Mr Boyce, then 17, was found with near-fatal stab wounds to the leg and chest, with the latter wound penetrating his heart and puncturing his lung, causing him to collapse and go into cardiac arrest.

Paramedics and a trauma team performed surgery on him at the scene and managed to restart his heart before he was rushed to hospital.

He had been deprived of oxygen for a critical 14 minutes, however, which resulted in around a 75 to 80 per cent loss of brain function.

The teenager, a promising business student at St Francis Xavier College in Clapham, has been left in a “vegetative state”.

His is unlikely to ever fully recover and was transferred to a specialist long-term care facility where he remains today.

The jury at the Old Bailey were shown CCTV footage of Mr Boyce and Orsei-Kofi in McDonald's earlier on the day of the stabbing.

Approximately four hours later, supermarket shoppers witnessed Mr Boyce being pinned up against a wall by Orsei-Kofi in a heated altercation while other youths looked on “like a pack of animals surrounding a buffalo”, according to one witness.

Orsei-Kofi was then heard shouting for a “chiv”, which is slang for knife, while holding his right arm against his victims neck to trap him against some railings before inflicting the stab wounds and fleeing the scene.

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