Kwame Ofosu-Asare death trial: Innocent teen 'caught in gang feud'
An innocent teenager was murdered for being in the "wrong place and at the wrong time" and because of a "poisonous" gang war, a jury has heard.
Kwame Ofosu-Asare, 17, was stabbed while he was walking in an estate in Brixton, south London, in March.
The court heard he was attacked for going into a gang's territory when they were looking to take revenge for an earlier stabbing, of one of their own.
Nelson Idiabeta, 18, and Nathaniel Okusanya, 19, of Lambeth, deny murder.
Kwame, son of a sports journalist, was stabbed repeatedly in the back and received a total of 14 wounds while walking in broad daylight in the Moorlands Estate with a friend, the Old Bailey heard.
The boys tried to get away by going into a side road where the friend's aunt lived, but she was not home and they were trapped in a cul-de-sac.
Crispin Aylett QC, prosecuting, said the friend "managed to get away by jumping over a high wall, but Kwame got caught".
"His killers were cowardly as they were merciless," he said.
'Poisonous and senseless'
Mr Aylett said the attack on Kwame had its roots in a feud between the TN1 (Trust No-One) gang from the Tulse Hill area of south London and Brixton-based GAS (Guns and Shanks).
It is alleged Mr Idiabeta and Mr Okusanya were members of the TN1 group out to avenge one of their number who had been stabbed in a bus garage attack carried out by GAS earlier in the day.
"Kwame's death was but a part of a poisonous and senseless feud between two rival gangs of youths in south London," Mr Aylett told the court.
"Kwame was in fact not a member of either gang.
"In other words, Kwame was murdered for being in the wrong place and at the wrong time - a glib phrase that does not even begin to describe the suffering of his family and friends that has resulted from his murder."
The trial continues.