Bus ran over teenager as he 'fled hoodies trying to steal his mobile'

Killed: A-level pupil Ezekiel Amosu
13 April 2012

A 17-year-old boy died under a bus after he was tripped by hooded youths trying to steal his mobile phone, a court heard.

A-level student Ezekiel Amosu tried to run off after the three muggers threatened him and a friend with sticks and rocks in Walthamstow on January 24 last year.

The friend managed to escape but a fourth group member stuck out a foot to stop Ezekiel, which caused him to fall into the path of a bus, the Old Bailey was told.

A post-mortem examination revealed Ezekiel died of multiple "crushing" injuries to his head and chest and died "almost instantaneously".

Seeing what they had done the four boys, three of whom were only 15 at the time, and none of whom can be named, ran off. The one who allegedly tripped Ezekiel had to be treated for shock when he got home.

He was later charged with manslaughter after his mother called police. The three other youths were caught when Ezekiel's friends picked them out in an ID parade.

In interview, the boy accused of tripping Ezekiel told police it was an accident and said he was unsure if he had tripped over his foot or something else.

Prosecutor Sarah Plaschkes QC told jurors: "The Crown's case is that each of the four defendants are responsible for Ezekiel's death.

"The first three defendants are responsible because immediately before he sustained his fatal injuries Ezekiel was in fear of being physically hurt, the fear was such as caused Ezekiel to try to escape. Ezekiel's fear of being hurt was reasonable - he had been verbally threatened then had sticks and rocks used against him as weapons."

Ezekiel was a student at Leyton Sixth Form College.

The defendants, who are now all 16 and from north and east London, deny manslaughter.

Three of them further deny two counts of attempted robbery. The trial continues.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Sign up you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy notice .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in