Illegal immigrant jailed after murdering father-of-two who asked him to be quiet

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Victim: Stevens Nyembo-Ya-Muteba was stabbed to death

An illegal immigrant who stabbed a devout Christian to death had been stopped by police because he had a knife on him, it emerged yesterday.

Joseph Ekaette had become involved in a gang of hoodies that terrorised an East London neighbourhood for years.

He ended up murdering a father-of-two who asked his friends to keep quiet one night.

A court heard that as Stevens Nyembo-Ya-Muteba was dying, 19-year-old Ekaette filmed himself drugging and raping a girl.

Last night, as he started a life jail sentence, the victim's widow Veronique Masosa attacked police for failing to crack down on the feral youths who smoked skunk and intimidated residents in their block of flats - taking over the stairwell and making a lot of noise late into the night.

She told how she had repeatedly complained to police, but was told that unless the yobs were specifically tormenting them, nothing could be done.

"They were teenagers, but I'm not even sure if any of them had homes," said Mrs Masosa, 28.

"Every day we had to pass them, there was often the smell of cannabis and used condoms would be left on the floor. If the police had done something, my husband might still be here."

Finally on October 1 last year, Mr Nyembo-Ya-Muteba decided he had had enough and confronted 15 youths over the noise because he had to get up early to work the next day.

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Illegal immigrant: Convicted rapist Joseph Ekaette was jailed for life for murdering Mr Nyembo-Ya-Muteba

Ekaette, who was nicknamed Tiny, responded by stabbing him twice as his friends chanted: "Shank him, shank him".

Mr Nyembo-Ya-Muteba, 40, tried to stagger to his flat, but was dead before he got there.

Mr Nyembo-Ya-Muteba had settled in Hackney after fleeing the Congo.

He had turned down a place at Cambridge University to take a BSc in maths and finance at Greenwich University so he could be near his family

He also worked every night as a driver in a local Tesco depot.

Ekaette was also an African immigrant, arriving from Nigeria in 2003.

But he had overstayed his visa and was living illegally with his mother and uncle in Hackney, East London.

Prosecutor Jonathan Turner QC told the Old Bailey yesterday the murder was "truly dreadful".

He added: "A family man was stabbed to death for nothing.

"The very worst he can be accused of is trying to remove some people from his front door - people who had no right to be there.

"He was not armed. He was doing nothing more than he was entitled to do. No witness suggests Stevens attacked anyone."

Days later, police found a mobile phone which had a video of a 14-year-old girl being raped.

The rapist was referred to as "Tiny" and police then tracked down Ekaette.

On November 23 Ekaette and 20-year-old Sebastian King were convicted of rape at Blackfriars Crown Court.

The attack were revealed only after Ekaette was jailed for life yesterday.

 

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