‘Cowardly killers’ jailed for killing boy aged 15 amid epidemic of knife crime

Two “cowardly” teenagers have been locked up for killing a 15-year-old boy in a gang-related machete attack months before his friend was also stabbed to death.

Daejaun Campbell cried out “I’m 15, don’t let me die” after he was ambushed in Woolwich, south-east London, on September 22 last year.

His friend and aspiring rapper Kelyan Bokassa, 14, nicknamed Grippa, had featured in a YouTube music video entitled Gotta Eat, in which he was seen crouching beside a floral tribute to Daejaun.

Then on January 7, Kelyan too was fatally stabbed by two 16-year-old boys with machetes on a bus in Woolwich.

Both boys’ killings had been linked to street gang culture with Daejaun described as being exploited and groomed by older youths.

Following a trial at the Old Bailey, Imri Doue, 18, from Woolwich, was found guilty of Daejaun’s murder, having admitted having a machete.

His co-accused Marko Balaz, 19, from Abbey Wood, south-east London, was convicted of Daejaun’s manslaughter and admitted drugs offences.

In a televised sentencing on Monday, Judge Sarah Munro KC detained Doue for life with a minimum term of 21 years and handed Balaz 11 years in custody.

Earlier, Daejaun’s mother Joelle Taylor faced her son’s killers in court and said: “I keep asking when will this knife crime epidemic end?

“The reality is actions like yours tear families and communities apart.”

She condemned her son’s killers as “pathetic cowards” and said Daejaun was let down repeatedly by the system that was “meant to protect him”.

Daejaun was a “true character” who was playful and cheeky and planning a “new start” just before he was killed, she said.

Addressing the dock, Mrs Taylor said: “Your actions have inflicted immense pain on me and my family and I struggle to write something that is not overwhelmed by raw emotion and anger that I feel.”

Mrs Taylor criticised the killers for their “lack of remorse” and said their sentence should reflect the “devastation” they had caused.

In her sentencing remarks, Judge Munro echoed Mrs Taylor’s words, telling the court: “As she rightly says, enough young lives have been lost already.”

Daejaun had been “sucked in” to a life in which carrying a knife was the “norm” and the defendants took away his chance to turn away from his “criminal behaviour”, she said.

Speaking to journalists outside court, Mrs Taylor said: “Justice hasn’t been served – it will never be.”

In a statement on behalf of Daejaun’s family, Shalina Brown said the country’s leaders – Sir Keir Starmer, Sir Sadiq Khan and David Lammy – talked of reform “while our children die”.

She said: “Your words build nothing. Your silence buries everything.”

Ms Brown said that “the system” had not failed but “abandoned us”.

She said: “Until it learns to protect the innocent before it comforts the guilty, more mothers will stand where I stand, and more names like Daejaun’s will be carved into stone long before their time.

“Those who choose violence are given chances. Those who choose love are given graves.”

The court had heard how Daejaun was targeted for a “gang check” when he was spotted near a house the defendants were visiting.

As he was attacked, he screamed for “help” and threw a large knife which hit a metal fence and broke apart.

Daejaun fell to his knees in the street having suffered two stab wounds and six superficial cuts.

Doue was caught on video dropping his machete and leaning down to pick it up as he made off.

Jurors heard the motive for the killing was unclear but that Daejaun had been carrying money and drugs, possibly crack cocaine.

Doue had previous convictions for carrying a “kukri” style knife in 2021 and having a machete and affray relating to a fight in October 2023 in which a male suffered a cut to his face and a stab wound.

Balaz had previous convictions for carrying knives and possession of cannabis.

Daejaun and Kelyan’s murders, though not directly related, bore striking similarities and have resulted in pleas by their families to end the “senseless killings”.

Previously Kelyan’s mother Marie Bokassa made an appeal for authorities to do more to stop the violence, saying: “Our streets are bleeding.”

Earlier this year, two 16-year-old youths were detained for at least 15 years and 10 months after pleading guilty at the Old Bailey to Kelyan’s murder.