A
teenager who knifed a CBBC star to death outside a nightclub before
confessing the crime to his girlfriend and fleeing to Nigeria has been
found guilty of murder.
Jeffrey
Okafor was just 18 when he stabbed 19-year-old Carl Beatson-Asiedu
outside a nightclub in Vauxhall, south west London, as two gangs of
clubbers brawled.
Within
an hour of the attack, Okafor, now 24, rang girlfriend Merissa Anderson
to say he had been involved in a 'madness', jurors at Woolwich Crown
Court heard.
A
few days later he confessed to stabbing Mr Beatson-Asiedu, who was
known as 'Charmz' and had appeared in CBBC's 'MI High', in the stomach.
Jeffrey
Okafor, 24 (top), has been found guilty of stabbing CBBC star Carl
Beatson-Asiedu, 19 (up), outside a nightclub in Vauxhall, London, in
August 2009. Mr Beatson-Asiedu died of stab wound to the stomach
Police
arrived at his East Dulwich home on August 13, 2009 to arrest him but
he was already in hiding and took a flight from Heathrow to Lagos using
his brother's name and passport.
However,
he was found guilty of murder by a jury in London today - six years
after Mr Beatson-Asiedu's death - after he was extradited last year.
Okafor denied murder but the jury took just two hours to convict him. Judge Christopher Kinch QC will sentence him tomorrow.
Prosecutor Sarah Whitehouse, QC, said Okafor had no connection with his victim prior to the attack.
She said: 'It is not clear, and will probably never be known, what led up to the killing if Carl Beatson by Jeffrey Okafor.
'You
may hear that there was some ill-feeling between some members of the
two groups, but there was nothing serious enough in the background for
anyone to explain why knives should be drawn.
'What is clear, the prosecution say, is that Jeffrey Okafor was the man who killed him.'
Mr
Beatson-Asiedu was attacked as he left Club Life with fellow DJ Peter
Lama, 19, known as 'DJ Syper', where they had earlier performed as the
double-act 'KidnPlay' at an event called Summer Vibz.
As they walked out at around 5am with friends, including Jermaine Coker, they were set upon by the larger attacking group.
Okafar, when he was arrested in Nigeria
Mr Beatson-Asiedu was stabbed during a
brawl between two groups as he left Club Life nightclub in Vauxhall's
Goding Street, in south west London. Okafor has now been found guilty of
the 2009 murder
Okafor (pictured on CCTV in 2009) will be sentenced at Woolwich Crown Court tomorrow for murder
CCTV
footage shows Okafor, wearing a distinctive T-shirt and single black
glove, and Ademujimi-Falade 'lurking 'behind a large rubbish bin
opposite the entrance to the club.
Shortly after, Mr Beatson-Asiedu's group were attacked 'almost simultaneously'.
Mr
Lama was stabbed in the buttock by Okafor's friend Abu Mansaray, but
managed to return to the club, where bouncers locked the doors and
called the police.
Meanwhile, Mr Coker was chased by Junior Ademujimi-Falade.
Both
survived their injuries but Mr Beatson-Asiedu, who was seen staggering
along the road before collapsing, suffered a stab wound to the stomach.
His
friends bundled him into the back of a car and rang for an ambulance,
but police stopped the speeding vehicle as they struggled to find St
Thomas' Hospital.
Mr
Beatson-Asiedu was pronounced dead a short time later, with a
post-mortem examination concluding that he had died from a single stab
wound to his heart.
Ms
Anderson later handed her boyfriend's gloves into police after he told
her about the brawl and forensic tests revealed DNA on one of the gloves
could have come from Mr Beatson-Asiedu.
Ms
Whitehouse added: 'Three days later, Miss Anderson was at Jeffrey
Okafor's house. He was out but he telephoned Miss Anderson and said "You
know that Ed Hardy T-shirt? Get it into a plastic bag and put it into a
bin in the road".
Mr Beatson-Asiedu (pictured above) was known as 'Charmz' and had appeared in CBBC's 'MI High' show
'Miss Anderson felt under pressure and did as she was asked.
'Later
on that day Jeffrey Okafor returned home. He seemed agitated and said
"I am going down" and "The feds are going to be on me".'
He was in hiding when police arrived at his home on August 13, 2009, and took a flight to Nigeria five days later.
Okafor was extradited and arrived back to the UK on November last year when he was arrested and charged.
Junior
Ademujimi-Falade, 24, was cleared of murder but convicted of
manslaughter and jailed for eight years following a two-week retrial at
the Old Bailey in December 2012.
Fellow
attacker Bolaji Kako-Are, 20, a Coventry University IT student, was
jailed for 30 months in June 2011 after being convicted of violent
disorder.
Okafor's brother Junior Okafor, 27, was jailed for four years in August 2010 for perverting the course of justice.
He
had convinced their mother to pay for a plane ticket and arranged for
his girlfriend to drive his brother to Heathrow Airport.
In
a statement read to the court at the time, John Beatson-Asiedu said his
son's death had 'created an enormous void in all our lives.'
He said: 'It is an unbelievable loss to his family, friends, loved ones and fans who followed his music career.
Ofakor was found guilty at Woolwich Crown Court (pictured) and will be sentenced by the judge tomorrow
'Carl was precious, loving, charming, and was always smiling.
'Not
only did that person or group of people sentence him to death, but when
they executed their judgement they immediately imposed a life sentence
of pain and sorrow on us.
'This grief we feel is not normal because it is embedded in our consciousness and stored in our brains.
'All
we have are our memories of Carl. They are good memories, they remind
us all of personal and special times - but they are memories.
'Nothing will bring Carl back, nothing will bring back the moments we had together.
'We will never see Carl grow up, get married or started a family.
'His
life was ripped from our world and the rest of our family in a vicious
and cowardly attack, where he was left to run for his life and die on
his own in the middle of a London street.'
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