Five gang members are today facing life in jail after being found guilty of the brutal murder of an innocent painter and decorator in a revenge attack.
Andrew Jaipaul, 21, was stabbed 25 times with kitchen knives and broken glass by a mob of around 20 youths as he walked home from work through the Andover Estate, Holloway, in June 2011.
Neighbours tried to stem his blood with towels he bled to death from multiple wounds near a children’s playground.
Archway’s ‘Busy Block’ gang is said to have carried out the attack in retribution after one of their members was stabbed in the buttocks earlier the same day – which they blamed rival ‘Wray Kray’ and ‘Crouch Hall’ gangs for.
Witnesses described an armed gang wearing hoods and balaclavas running into the estate – then cheering and shouting “busy block” as they fled the scene after the stabbing.
There was no forensic evidence linking the defendants to the vicious attack, but the prosecution provided CCTV and eye witness evidence to the jury, who took just over 22 hours to convict them.
Thomas McInerney, 21, Jojo Mafwa, 19, Tirrell Ball-Thomas, 18, Wesley Brooks, 18, and a 15 year-old boy who cannot be named for legal reasons were all found guilty of murder, conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm and violent disorder.
Zoe Johnson QC, prosecuting, said: “He [Mr jaipaul] was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“He found himself a victim of a series of escalating attacks between rival gangs in north London.
“Andrew Jaipaul was minding his own business when, out of nowhere, a large armed gang came across him, decided to attack him, chased him down and brutally murdered him near a children’s play area.”
McInerny also features in several Youtube videos applauding Busy Block activity which are “littered with references to violence”, claimed the prosecution.
Miss Johnson said: “A prominent member [of Busy Block] became a victim. That could not be left unanswered. Busy Block decided to make a show of violence. Andrew Jaipual was a victim of that show of violence.”
McInerney, of Lennox Road, Finsbury Park; Mafwa, of St Margaret’s Avenue, Tottenham; Ball-Thomas, of Colthurst Crescent, Finsbury Park, Brooks, of Ritchie Street, Islington and a 15-year-old from Upper Holloway were convicted of murder, conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm and violent disorder.
Warren Brooks, 23, of Ritchie Street, Islington, was cleared of murder but convicted of conspiring to inflict grievous bodily harm.
Allan Kalema, 19, of Cardinals Way, Archway, could face a retrial after jurors failed to reach verdicts against him on the same charges.
All defendants except Mr Kalema are due to be sentenced on Friday.
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