UK gang jailed for up to 29 years for machete killing

By AFP
October 17, 2024
British oolice officers stand guard on Hart Street in Southport, northwest England following a knife attack. — AFP/File
British oolice officers stand guard on Hart Street in Southport, northwest England following a knife attack. — AFP/File

LONDON: A judge on Wednesday handed four men jail terms of up to 29 years for a deadly machete attack on an 18-year-old, as the UK grapples with a wave of knife killings.

Wazabakana Kukabu, known as Jordan, was killed last May in Dagenham, east of London when he was set upon by the machete-wielding gang as he sat in the back of a car.

The group, three of whom are still teenagers, were seen on a bus re-enacting the murder they had carried out, London police said.

Eighteen-year-old Toulwalase Odunewu received a 29-year jail term and Michael Tommy-Mbogba, 21, was jailed for 23 years. The other two, aged 16 and 17, were given detention orders of 16 and 23 years.

The ban aims to curb the alarming rise in the number of knife killings, described as a “national crisis” by Prime Minister Keir Starmer.