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Teenager murdered for 'not showing respect'
Paul Cheston, Courts Correspondent24 Jun 2008
An A-level student was murdered for failing to show his killer respect during New Year's Eve celebrations, the Old Bailey heard today.
Stephen Boachie, 17, was thrown across the bonnet of a Mercedes and stabbed twice with a concealed knife by Chester Dauda.
Dauda, 21, launched the attack on a petrol station forecourt in Barking, telling friends after the attack: "He was trying to take me for a d**khead."
The pair had earlier been involved in a scuffle at the Thatched House pub.
Nigerian-born Dauda, of Plaistow, denied murder but was found guilty. Judge Martin Stephens warned him he may face deportation when he is sentenced next month.
Stephen had been brought to Britain from Ghana by his father six years ago to have a proper education. He excelled at Newham Sixth Form College, Plaistow, and planned to study at Birmingham University to become an engineer.
He had lived with his father and stepmother in Dagenham. Kwasi Boachie, a 49-year-old security officer, spoke of his grief at his son's murder in the early hours of New Year's Day this year.
"I wanted him to have a better education. If he had finished his education here, he would have been better off than his brothers, but unfortunately it is all over. It has been taken all away," he said.
Mr Boachie added: "Usually, he would tell me where he was going. But I went to bed early on New Year's Eve and I did not realise he had gone out. At about noon, I was called by the police who told me my son had been stabbed."
