From the Beeb.
10 years in jail? Doesn't that infringe his human rights? Should have let him go free - more room for locking up bikini wearing grannies.
10 years in jail? Doesn't that infringe his human rights? Should have let him go free - more room for locking up bikini wearing grannies.
Killer bully given life sentence
A 16-year-old has been given a life sentence for murdering the father of a boy he had been bullying.
An order banning the naming of Marcus Gabadan was lifted by an Old Bailey judge, who described his attack on the man as gratuitous and unprovoked.
The 35-year-old victim, who cannot be named to protect his son, was stabbed through the heart after confronting two teenagers in Brixton, south London.
The judge said Gabadan must spend at least ten years in custody.
The victim's son had originally been threatened by another bully, a 14-year-old, who demanded a computer game and £20 from him.
Attempt to intimidate
When he refused to steal the money from his mother, the boy was hit and told his father would be killed.
The next day, last December, the bully sat outside the boy's house "to intimidate him", the trial heard.
He later returned to the flat, with Gabadan for back-up.
The boy's father, described as a hard-working painter and decorator, tried to call police on a number he had been given after complaining about the bullying.
This was a gratuitous, unprovoked attack on a man who was trying to stop his son being bullied
Judge James Stewart
But the line was engaged and he headed outside "understandably upset" that his son had been bullied.
He grabbed the younger boy's coat and it was then that Gabadan stabbed him.
Gabadan, of Brixton, south London, claimed to have used the knife in self-defence.
The 14-year-old, convicted of blackmailing the son during a prolonged campaign of bullying, was remanded in custody for reports.
Passing sentence, Judge James Stewart said: "It is a tragedy that a man cannot go out of his house in this day and age to remonstrate with a bully and not find himself dead.
"This was a gratuitous, unprovoked attack on a man who was trying to stop his son being bullied."
A 16-year-old has been given a life sentence for murdering the father of a boy he had been bullying.
An order banning the naming of Marcus Gabadan was lifted by an Old Bailey judge, who described his attack on the man as gratuitous and unprovoked.
The 35-year-old victim, who cannot be named to protect his son, was stabbed through the heart after confronting two teenagers in Brixton, south London.
The judge said Gabadan must spend at least ten years in custody.
The victim's son had originally been threatened by another bully, a 14-year-old, who demanded a computer game and £20 from him.
Attempt to intimidate
When he refused to steal the money from his mother, the boy was hit and told his father would be killed.
The next day, last December, the bully sat outside the boy's house "to intimidate him", the trial heard.
He later returned to the flat, with Gabadan for back-up.
The boy's father, described as a hard-working painter and decorator, tried to call police on a number he had been given after complaining about the bullying.
This was a gratuitous, unprovoked attack on a man who was trying to stop his son being bullied
Judge James Stewart
But the line was engaged and he headed outside "understandably upset" that his son had been bullied.
He grabbed the younger boy's coat and it was then that Gabadan stabbed him.
Gabadan, of Brixton, south London, claimed to have used the knife in self-defence.
The 14-year-old, convicted of blackmailing the son during a prolonged campaign of bullying, was remanded in custody for reports.
Passing sentence, Judge James Stewart said: "It is a tragedy that a man cannot go out of his house in this day and age to remonstrate with a bully and not find himself dead.
"This was a gratuitous, unprovoked attack on a man who was trying to stop his son being bullied."
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