Four men, three of whom are still teenagers, were convicted today at the Old Bailey of assaulting and killing a father-of-two from Stockwell in his local community centre.
Donald McNicol, 54, Burrow House, Stockwell Park Road was brutally attacked by a group of young men and died in hospital two weeks later.
A total of nine young men were arrested during the course of the police investigation, three of whom were later released without charge.
The jury was previously directed to acquit two other men who were on trial.
Daniel Okello, 20, Monsur Rahman, 19 and Manunoor Rahman, 18 have been convicted of murder, Ibrahim Ford, 17 was found not guilty of murder but was convicted of manslaughter.
The men will be sentenced on 31 October.
The court heard that Mr McNicol had visited the Community Centre in Aytoun Place and was sitting quietly using a computer when Monsur Rahman began remonstrating with him at around 4pm.
A large group of young men had gathered inside the centre and within seconds the rest of the group joined in, punching and kicking Mr Nichol.
The teenagers fled after a chair was raised and brought down on Mr Nichol’s head, causing a serious head injury which he never recovered from.
Despite undergoing neurosurgery at Kings College Hospital, life support was finally removed two weeks later and Mr McNicol died on 15 December 2013.
DCI Tim Duffield of the Homicide and Serious Crime Command (HSCC), who headed the police investigation said: “Mr McNicol was sitting quietly at a desk when this group singled him out and launched a most vicious and cowardly attack.
“Their actions were completely inexcusable.
“In contrast to his assailants, Donald was a caring, dignified and thoughtful man. Our deepest sympathies go out to his friends and family as they try to come to terms with their loss. I just hope that today’s convictions provide them with some small measure of solace.”
DCI Duffield also thanked the many people who had come forward with information and showed willingness to work with the police, which he said was testament to the community’s ‘intolerance of violent crime’.
Picture courtesy of Ronnie Macdonald, with thanks
