Boy rammed off moped before being ‘brutally’ stabbed south-east London, court hears

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A court has been shown CCTV footage of the moment a 16-year-old boy was rammed off his moped with an SUV before being stabbed to death in a “brutal and random” attack on the roadside. Hussain Bah and Alagie Jobe, both 19, were allegedly with three others in a Nissan Qashqai, which ploughed into Charlie Bartolo and threw him into the air just after 5pm on November 26 last year. They then got out of the vehicle and repeatedly stabbed Charlie with “large knives” as he lay “helpless” on the floor, it is alleged. A member of the public who found Charlie called an ambulance and he was rushed to hospital where he died from his injuries, which included a large stab wound to his head, around an hour after the incident on Sewell Road in Abbey Wood, south-east London. Another 16-year-old, Kearne Solanke, allegedly took part in the killing but was mistakenly stabbed by one of his friends in the “chaos and excitement” of the attack, Inner London Crown Court was told. Kearne was said to have been bundled into the SUV, which was allegedly driven by Bah, and left a mile away in Titmuss Avenue, Thamesmead, where members of the public found him bleeding from a chest wound, the jury was told. He died at the scene at around 6.16pm despite the efforts of emergency workers. Bah and Jobe appeared at Inner London Crown Court on Thursday alongside a 16-year-old boy and 17-year-old boy, all charged with the murders of Charlie and Kearne. They all deny the charges. William Emlyn Jones KC, prosecuting, told the jury that one of the defendants had “beef” with the area of Abbey Wood, describing the killings as the product of a “petty” postcode rivalry. He alleged that the defendants left the Nissan when they abandoned Kearne on the pavement before fleeing on foot and were arrested by police after a 999 call was made on Bah’s phone to anonymously report the location of their wounded friend. They did not reveal their names or the fact that they knew Kearne, Mr Jones said. The jury was shown CCTV footage of a Nissan smashing into Charlie from behind as he rode with two friends who were also on motorbikes. A group of people could be seen jumping out of the car as a boy screams, “no, no!” before they attacked Charlie and ran back to the vehicle. One of them then went back to Charlie “for another go”, Mr Jones said, and stabbed him again before the group sped away in the car, leaving him on the ground. Mr Jones said: “The defendants considered themselves to be, or to represent, Thamesmead. Their target was Abbey Wood. “They were in a stolen car, so no doubt were pleased to know it could not be traced back to any of them, and as they drove that car into enemy territory they were armed to the teeth with large knives and plenty of them. “If the purpose was to find an opponent, to find someone from the rival group – in other words, an Abbey Wood youth – they would take the chance to carry out a knife attack. “The prosecution suggest that they were looking for an Abbey Wood victim to attack – and in Charlie Bartolo, they found one. “In fact, as you will see, Charlie was with two of his friends, also on motorbikes, but it just happened that it was Charlie who was rammed and then attacked (for) no particular reason. “As you will see from the CCTV, once he had been knocked off his bike, he stood no chance, and the defendants wasted no time in jumping out, knives already drawn to complete the attack that the collision had begun. “Three of them used large knives to stab and strike Charlie as he lay helpless on the ground. The whole thing takes less than a minute. “So that accounts for the brutal killing of Charlie Bartolo. What about the second victim? “Well, the dreadful truth is that Kearne Solanke was one of Charlie’s murderers. “During the violence, one of his own team, whilst aiming his attack at Charlie Bartolo, stabbed his own friend. “In the confusion and chaos – and, I am afraid to say, the excitement – of the moment, his knife found the wrong target. “Kearne Solanke was killed as a result of his friends’, and his own, attack on Charlie Bartolo. “They simply left Kearne to bleed to death. “The prosecution’s case is that these men were acting together with a shared intention of stabbing and seriously harming their target and that therefore they are all jointly responsible for the attack.” The trial continues.

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