Teenager Fola Orebiyi stabbed to death in Notting Hill 'ambush over trivial dispute'

Fola Orebiyi was stabbed to death in July last year
Patrick Grafton-Green4 January 2017
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A 16-year-old boy was stabbed to death in an "ambush" near Portobello Road after a “trivial” dispute with a rival group of friends, a court has heard.

Fola Orebiyi thought he and his friends were going to settle the dispute with a fist fight but he was knifed in the neck and back near the street market in Notting Hill.

He was pronounced dead an hour later.

Two boys, aged 15 and 17, are on trial at the Old Bailey accused of Fola's murder on the evening of July 3 last year.

The teenagers blame each other for the stabbing, the court heard.

Prosecutor Tim Cray said the events surrounding his death centred on the area around Portobello Road, close to where the victim lived.

He said: "The cause of the trouble that led to the stabbing seems to have been trivial, compared to the harm that came from it."

In the weeks before, one of Fola's friends had a fight with the 15-year-old defendant and insults were hurled, he said.

Police and paramedics at the scene in Notting Hill

Mr Cray said: "On the Sunday night Fola and his friends ran into the defendants and their friends near the Portobello Road.

"Fola thought that the dispute was going to be sorted out by a fist fight and they all went to a location off the main roads.

"What Fola didn't know was that these defendants were armed with at least one knife and, as was almost inevitable, the use of a knife took this incident up to a whole different league of trouble.

"It turned out that this wasn't so much a fight as an ambush where, within seconds, Fola was singled out and stabbed to death."

The younger defendant was allegedly prompted to strike the fatal wound to Fola's neck by the older boy shouting: "Get the knife, stab him."

The boys ran away and disposed of any knives they had been carrying as well as their clothes, jurors were told.

Following their arrests, the 17-year-old denied carrying out the stabbing and said the other youth had the knife. The 15-year-old denied involvement.

Mr Cray told jurors: "The main factual question you will have to decide is, who did it?

"It appears now that the defendants accept they were there and involved, but they seem to blame each other for the stabbing.

"The truth is that the defendants attacked Fola together and they are both responsible for his death."

The youths, who cannot be identified, deny murder.

The trial continues.

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