A Brixton teenager who stabbed his friend to death before trying to escape to Jamaica has been convicted of murder.
Juhvaine Elliot knifed sixteen-year-old Rommel McKoy on Hicken Road, Brixton, on April 4, 2022.
Rommel tragically died from his injuries in hospital eighteen days later on April 22.
A jury found eighteen-year-old Elliot guilty of murder after a trial at Southwark Crown Court. He will be sentenced on Friday, December 8.
Detective Inspector Jason Fitzpatrick said: “Rommel’s death has left his friends and family devastated. Juhvaine Elliott will now spend a long period of his young life in custody.”
Elliot was friends with Rommel but attacked him on Hicken Road, next to Brixton Hill, on April 4, 2022.
CCTV footage showed Elliot run at Rommel and produce a knife before the pair went out of view.
Rommel then stumbled toward St Matthews Road where he was initially assisted by members of the public.
He was then treated by air ambulance staff and transferred to Kings College Hospital.
Tragically, he died from his wounds in hospital on April 22, 2022.
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Detectives identified Elliot via CCTV that showed him wearing a distinctive lightweight blue and white jacket.
Police said that witnesses also stated that he was the one who’d stabbed Rommel.
Police conducted a search warrant of Elliot’s home on April 21, 2022, but he wasn’t there.
Later that day, detectives established Elliot was boarding a flight from Gatwick Airport to Montego Bay, Jamaica.
Airport security was contacted and the plane was stopped. Elliot was arrested and taken into custody.
Police said he gave a series of interviews, which were mainly ‘no comment’, before being charged with murder on May 10, 2022.
DI Fitzpatrick said: ”Another young life has been lost on the streets of London as a result of knife crime.
“Juhvaine Elliott had been friends with Rommel but that did not stop him from launching an unprovoked, fatal attack on him.”