Teenage drill rapper jailed for stabbing boy, 15, outside chicken shop
Written by News on 03/08/2019
A teenage drill rapper has been jailed for at least 19 years for stabbing a boy to death in a random attack a judge called “brazen, quick and ruthless”.
Nyron Jean-Baptiste targeted Jay Hughes, 15, near a chicken shop in Bellingham, southeast London, on 1 November 2018.
He died of a single stab wound to the heart after Jean-Baptiste, 17 at the time, jumped out of a car and ran towards him, leaving a 5-inch deep wound to his chest.
He launched the attack with two other masked males, who remain on the run.
A friend of Jay’s was chased by the two others, but managed to escape as shocked witnesses looked on.
Jean-Baptiste, of Hawthorn Grove, Penge, who can now be named after turning 18 following his trial, already had four convictions for knife crimes before the murder.
Judge Anuja Dhir QC said she had “no doubt” he intended to kill his victim, saying that Jay “did not stand a chance of surviving” the assault.
The court heard Jean-Baptiste appeared in “gang videos on YouTube” and wrote violent drill rap lyrics before the murder.
The judge said Jay had no gang affiliation and was just “standing in a street”.
Addressing his killer, she added: “At the time, you were a member of the M20 gang, or an associated gang, and you were embedded in knife gang culture.”
After the murder Jean-Baptiste went into hiding until he was arrested the following month in Gravesend, Kent, after being caught carrying a “large hunting knife”.
Police raided a flat where he was staying and found “a collection of knives and masks”.
An emotional tribute from Jay’s mother Cindy was read at the hearing, in which she remembered her “special” son.
She told Jean-Baptiste: “You need to realise that you have changed our lives forever and that we are the ones left serving a life sentence.”
He showed no emotion throughout the hearing, attended by Jay’s mother, grandmother and other relatives.
Jay’s mother added that the “sense of loss” was “unbearable.”
“We are brokenhearted and always will be, but he will never be forgotten and will be deeply loved forever. All we want now for Jay is that justice is done.”
Jean-Baptiste also received a four-month sentence for admitting possession of a knife in Gravesend on 10 December.
The judge commended two officers involved in the investigation.
(c) Sky News 2019: Teenage drill rapper jailed for stabbing boy, 15, outside chicken shop
