Eight years after inflicting life changing injuries on a teenager, a man has been convicted of murder

A man has been convicted of murder after a teenager he assaulted died from his injuries following more than six years of nursing care.

Tyrese Osei-Kofi, 25 (18.06.99), of no fixed address, appeared at the Old Bailey on Friday, 1 November where he pleaded guilty to murder.

On 14 October 2016, police were called by the London Ambulance Service [LAS] just after 19:00hrs to reports that a young man had been stabbed in Triangle Place, SW4.

Officers and the LAS attended and found 17-year-old Jamel Boyce with stab wounds to the chest and leg. While the latter wound was superficial, the former had penetrated his heart and punctured his lung which caused Jamel to collapse and go into cardiac arrest.

Paramedics and a trauma team performed surgery on the roadside and managed to restart Jamel's heart before he was rushed to hospital.

Sadly, the injury to his heart had deprived him of oxygen for a critical 14 minutes, which left Jamel in a permanent vegetative state and requiring round the clock nursing care.

Osei-Kofi was convicted of grievous bodily harm following a trial at the Old Bailey in February 2018. He was found not guilty of attempted murder. In May 2018 he was jailed for 10 years.

On Tuesday, 13 February 2022, after 6.5 years of care, Jamel sadly died.

A post-mortem examination held on 16 February 2022 gave a provisional cause of Jamel's death as a penetrating injury to his chest.

Homicide detectives from the Met’s Specialist Crime Command started murder proceedings against Osei-Kofi.

Detective Inspector Andy Griffin, of the Met’s Specialist Crime Command, said: “Jamel was a business studies student. He had no links to gangs and was described by those who knew him as a polite, conscientious and shy young man – that he could be so cruelly snatched from his family is heart-breaking.

“I am pleased that the guilty plea from the defendant has spared Jamel’s family the agony of a second trial. I sincerely hope that today’s plea brings them a measure of satisfaction in knowing that the person responsible for the death of their son has been held to account.”

Osei-Kofi was remanded in custody to appear for sentencing at the same court on Friday, 6 December.