Seven people have been jailed for their part in the “senseless killing” of a 21-year-old man at a Halloween party in west London.
Givani Espuet was stabbed 11 times at the party in Sudbury on October 30, 2022.
He had attended the party in a bar on Harrow Road with two friends.
In the early hours of that same day, a fight broke out that spilled onto the street and punches were thrown.
At least two of the defendants produced a knife, and Givani was chased down the street by the group before being repeatedly stabbed.
An ambulance crew happened to be waiting in traffic when Givani was knifed, but they were not able to save him.
A subsequent post-mortem found Givani had been stabbed 11 times, with one of the wounds being a non-survivable stab-wound to his heart.
Givani did not have a weapon and had not struck anyone.
The stab wounds were predominantly to his back and appear to have been inflicted while he was on the floor, the court heard.
The killers fled the scene leaving behind a hat that was later linked to one of the defendants, Courtney Forrester.
Detective Inspector Jim Barry, of the Met’s Specialist Crime Command, said: “This was a senseless killing that left a family, partner and community grieving. Givani was pursued for no reason and was repeatedly stabbed because the defendants didn’t want to lose face.
“If none of these men had taken a knife to that party, then Givani would probably still be alive and these men would not be facing years in prison. Givani had his whole life ahead of him.”
All of the defendants were arrested in the following weeks.
Those convicted were:
- Kadeem Hibbert, 30, was found guilty of murder and violent disorder and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 22 years for murder
- Sahid Kpaka, 29, was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 17 years for murder, and two years and three months’ imprisonment for violent disorder
- Courtney Forrester, 26, was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of ten years for manslaughter, and one-and-a-half years’ imprisonment for violent disorder
- Bruce Hutchinson, 30, was found guilty of violent disorder and sentenced to two years nine months’ imprisonment. He was found not guilty of murder and manslaughter.
- Andre Brown-Watson, 38, was found guilty of violent disorder and sentenced to two years six months’ imprisonment. He was found not guilty of murder and manslaughter.
- Firat Tato, 27, was found guilty of violent disorder and sentenced to two years, 11 months’ imprisonment
- Omari Knight, 28, was found guilty of violent disorder and sentenced to two years, eight months’ imprisonment
- Kyle Peters, 33, pleaded guilty to violent disorder. He will be sentenced on a future date.
Further charges of violent disorder were brought against four other men, who will be tried for this offence at a later date.
DI Barry added: “If you suspect someone of carrying a knife, speak to them and point out the dreadful results of knife crime. If they will not listen to you call police. Even if they are arrested, those consequences are better than the alternatives.”
