Two teens detained over public park machete attack

LONDON: Two teenagers have been sentenced after launching a knife attack in a “public park in front of families” which left the victim in a permanent vegetative state.

Keiano Gooden-Josephs, a 19-year-old former Chelsea academy player, was sentenced to 13 years in a young offenders’ institution, and a 17-year-old, who cannot be named because of his age, was handed an 11-year term of detention after being convicted of wounding with intent, during a trial at the Old Bailey in January.

Doctors say victim Douglas Sepouo, 21, shows no chance of making a recovery following the machete attack in Preston Park, Wembley, north London, on July 9 last year.

Sentencing at the Old Bailey on Tuesday, Judge Sarah Munro QC said: “This was a group attack from the both of you in a public park in front of families.” The judge said the crime was “as close to murder as it could be”, considering the defendant’s grave condition.

Prosecutor Alistair Richardson said Sepouo had been in a permanent vegetative state since the attack, and is in isolation after being infected by Covid-19.

Richardson said the victim’s mother Corinne Foussoum “refused to give up hope” for her son and visited him every day following the stabbing, until also being struck down with coronavirus.

The court heard Sepouo was a drug dealer who was training to be a plumber.

In a statement, Ms Foussoum said: “He was a good child, very kind, never causing bother to anyone. It is my faith in god that keeps me going. Some people in a vegetative state have improved, so why not him?”

The court heard that the two defendants and the victim were all carrying weapons on the day, and there was a grievance between them which the judge said was “almost certainly drug-related”.