busy high street while his young daughter was in a nearby shop has
been found guilty of killing him. Abraham Omotoso of Tudor Gardens,
Harrow, was found guilty of manslaughter at the Old Bailey, Friday, 15
September, following a two-week trial. He was found not guilty of
murder.
He will be sentenced at the same court on Friday, 13 October.
Police were called at about 18:50hrs on Monday, 27 February 2017 to
reports that a man had been stabbed in High Street, Wealdstone.
The man was taken to a central London hospital by London Ambulance
Service but despite the best efforts of medical staff and extensive
surgery, he was pronounced dead at about 02:30hrs on Tuesday, 28
February.
The victim was identified as Mohamed Al-Zufairi, 34, from Harrow. A
post-mortem examination gave the cause of death as a stab wound to the
chest.
Shortly before 18:50hrs on 27 February, Mohamed arrived in High
Street, Wealdstone, with his eight-year-old daughter.
He sent her into Poundland to buy some items while he waited outside.
It was then that he was approached by Omotoso.
Witnesses reported that they had a short argument before Omotoso, who
was wearing a parka-style coat with the hood pulled up, stabbed
Mohamed and ran from the scene still holding the knife.
Luckily, Mohamed's daughter did not witness the incident. On Tuesday,
28 February police were notified that the suspect could have been
someone by the name of Femi Omotoso. At about 18:00hrs on 28 February
he was arrested on the suspicion of murder under the name of Abraham
Omotoso at Gatwick airport having just purchased a one- way ticket to
Nigeria with cash.
Detectives carried out a number of enquiries, including reviewing CCTV
which showed Mohamed walking with his daughter in High Street on 27
February before she goes into Poundland.
It also shows Omotoso walking in High Street in a 'purposeful' manner
before approaching Mohamed, fleeing the scene and getting in a black
Range Rover nearby and driving away.
Officers also tracked Omotoso's movements in the days leading up to
the murder and he was caught on CCTV wearing the same parka-style coat
on two separate occasions.
Detectives also examined Omotoso's mobile phone data which showed it
was inactive between 12:40hrs and 19:09hrs on 27 February, which was
not in line with Omotoso's usual daily phone use patterns.
The phone's movement also matched the movement of the Range Rover that
left the scene of the crime.
Omotoso remained silent in all of his police interviews. He was
charged on 6 March.
Detectives believe the motive for the attack was an ongoing feud
between the victim's brothers and Omotoso's brother and friends.
Detective Inspector Jon Meager, the investigating officer from the
Met's Homicide and Major Crime Command, said:
"This was a brutal attack in a busy high street which resulted in a
young father losing his life.
While his daughter did not witness the assault, it is something that
is undoubtedly going to affect her for life.
"Omotoso has shown no remorse for his actions on that day. I hope his
conviction gives Mohamed's family a measure of closure and comfort."
In a statement, Mohamed's brother Jafar said:
"Mohamed was a family man, his family came first. I still can not
really believe what has happened to Mohamed, the constant grief just
gets worse. It's like a massive hole just suddenly appeared in our
family, our big brother was there one minute and suddenly he was
snatched away. None of us can get a grasp of or understand. It makes
it so much worse that we know that he was killed.
"I think it has hit his daughter the hardest.
She did not see her dad being stabbed, but was with him. She walked to
the local shops to get some sweets with her dad and returned home
without him. She was the last one with, holding his hand as she says
'Daddy never came home with me.
"Our lives will never be the same, they have been scarred."
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