A teenager who “orchestrated” the Canonbury killing of Nashon Esbrand in August 2017 has been convicted of murder.
Jack Stevens, 19, becomes the fourth person found guilty of the killing.
Stevens was extradited back to Britain after being arrested while on the run in Spain.
Nashon, 27, was a new father to a two-week old daughter when he was stabbed and left for dead yards from his parents’ home in Mitchison Road.
Last year three others were jailed for their involvement in his murder.
A 17 year old who cannot be named due to his age admitted the crime, while Dillon Zambon, 21, and Jhon Berhane, 19, were both found guilty at a trial last March.
Stevens and Zambon spotted their victim on Essex Road before calling for “reinforcements” and chasing him through Canonbury’s back streets on bicycles. The pair – along with Berhane, the 17 year old and a fifth man – cornered Nashon in Mitchison Road and attacked him at 6.50pm, just 15 minutes after he had said goodbye to his girlfriend and baby daughter.
After being stabbed in the legs, Nashon’s femoral artery was cut. Despite being rushed to hospital – and the first aid efforts of neighbours and his father – he died in the early hours of the next morning.
The court heard Nashon had clashed with members of the Caledonian Road “Cally Boyz” gang in the past – and he had even told police he was worried for his safety in the run-up to the vicious attack.
Nashon had feared being targeted by the “Cally Boyz” because he had previously gone to the police regarding another, much older incident, and five months before his death, on March 1, 2017, he was involved in an altercation with the gang.
Stevens and a number of other youths, not including the three already behind bars for Nashon’s murder, were on the other side of the dispute – which allegedly saw knives involved.
Due to this incident, Nashon was awaiting trial for affray when he died.
He told police and his GP he believed he was “targeted” by the Cally Boyz on this day because he had co-operated with the police.
Stevens, who had admitted being present at the murder but denied involvement – will be sentenced on March 22.
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