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‘Two-timing girl lured her boyfriend to be killed by rival’
Paul Cheston, Courts Correspondent20 Apr 2009
A TEENAGER was lured to his death in a honey trap by his 15-year-old girlfriend, the Old Bailey heard today.
Shakilus Townsend, 16, was attacked by a gang of hooded and masked youths and left fatally wounded and crying for his mother, the jury was told.
He sobbed: “I don't want to die” in a pool of blood after being beaten with a baseball bat, kicked, punched and stabbed, the court heard.
One knife lacerated his liver in the “relentless and merciless attack” in Thornton Heath by youths all aged 18 or younger.
The girlfriend, Miss S, who cannot be named because of her youth, was also dating Danny McLean, one of the alleged killers.
Brian Altman QC, prosecuting, said: “Her role was central and pivotal. It was to deliberately lure Shakilus to be ambushed and attacked ... with little or no possibility of escape.
“She agreed to set up the hapless Shakilus in a honey trap with a lethal and tragic twist.”
The killers are said to be members or associates of the south London gang known as SMN or “Shine My Nine”.
One early afternoon in July last year Shakilus and Miss S caught a bus to a block of flats in Thornton Heath where McLean and his friends were waiting, having kept in touch with her by mobile phone.
In a cul-de-sac the victim was set upon. “He was directly attacked by what appears to have been a group of three, at least two of whom were armed with weapons,” said Mr Altman.
“The others were close by, quite deliberately present as look-outs, encouraging what was happening and each being ready, willing and able to assist if the need arose.
“Despite their ages this attack was pre-arranged and planned and it was executed meticulously with consummate skill and cunning.”
The QC added: “Shakilus was completely outnumbered and there he was left, crying for his mother, saying: I don't want to die'.”
The wound to the liver caused a massive loss of blood and Shakilus died in hospital the next day.
He was killed because of the rivalry between himself and McLean for the love of Miss S, the court heard.
“Shakilus had been seeing Miss S for a matter of weeks but in doing so she was playing a dangerous game because she was cheating on McLean who was also her boyfriend,” said Mr Altman.
“It is clear that he had come to learn of her deception and, by way of recompense, she agreed to set up the hapless Shakilus. She was more than equal to the task.”
There was a second motive for the attack as Shakilus had also had a fight with one of the 17-year-old defendants. It was this defendant who, during the fatal attack, allegedly struck the victim repeatedly with a baseball bat.
In fact the 17-year-old was so close to McLean during the attack he accidentally hit and injured him on the back of the head with the bat, causing a wound that was still visible when he was arrested, the court heard.
McLean, now aged 18, and Tyrell Ellis, 19, both of Thornton Heath, Andre Johnson-Haynes, 18 of Croydon, Miss S and three other defendants aged 16 and 17, have all pleaded not guilty to murder.
The case continues.
