Two teenage boys admit murder of 14-year-old stabbed 27 times on London bus

Two teenagers have pleaded guilty to the murder of a 14-year-old boy who was stabbed on a London bus.

Kelyan Bokassa was stabbed around 27 times by machete-wielding youths as he travelled home on a route 472 bus in Woolwich, south-east London, on Tuesday January 7.

The aspiring rapper died at the scene shortly after medics arrived.

In an unusual move, Scotland Yard had issued CCTV images and named two boys as part of a public appeal for information.

The pair, both now aged 16, appeared at the Old Bailey today where they admitted murder.

Relatives of Kelyan gasped and appeared tearful as they sat metres away from the dock where the two boys sat flanked by officers.

Judge Mark Lucraft KC ordered reports ahead of sentencing on July 25.

At a previous hearing, prosecutor Tom Little KC told the court the victim was sitting on the back seat of the bus on the upper deck when he was attacked by two youths both armed with ‘lengthy machetes’.

Kelyan’s killers were said to have known he was on the bus before getting on and went directly for him, the court heard.

Mr Little said: ‘It is clear this is not a form of spontaneous incident. The two defendants must have known the deceased was on the bus.

‘They approach him and almost instantaneously the two of them pull out machetes and attacked the deceased.

‘He is stabbed or attempted to be stabbed on a total of 27 occasions before the defendants made their way off the bus.’

One of the machetes was allegedly discarded in the River Thames but later recovered.

After his death, Kelyan’s mum said her son had been groomed by gangs after running away from care and living on the streets.

Mary Bokassa said: ‘My son and others were taken advantage by gangs. They were groomed.’

She went on: ‘He was missing for a year and was living on the street. He finally turned up at my doorstep, he was sick, underweight and tattooed… He was exposed to drugs. He probably experienced something because I could sense it.

‘He was not himself. If I questioned him he wouldn’t tell me anything about his friends.’

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