4th Feb 2010

Oluwaseyi Ogunyemi 16 was killed in a gang attack in which dogs were involved, the Old Bailey has heard.

Oluwaseyi, died in Larkhall Park, south London, where he was stabbed six times following the dog attack last April. His 17-year-old friend was stabbed nine times but survived the attack.

Chrisdian Johnson, 22, Shane Johnson, 20, both of South Lambeth, London, and Darcy Menezes, 18, of Clapham, London, deny murder and attempted murder.

Both victims had suffered apparent dog bites and were found critically injured in the park, the jury heard. Two others youths who had been with them were also stabbed.

Brian Altman QC, prosecuting, told the court two dogs had been used in the attack.

He said: "What was so unusual if not unique about this case is that in the initial stages of the attack both these dogs were deployed as weapons.


"At the time of the attack both dogs were unleashed, and chased and then brought down and savaged their victims, giving their human masters an advantage, enabling them then to access their victims in order to stab them with knives."

The dogs used in the attack were an adult male Staffordshire bull terrier-bull mastiff cross named Tyson and an adult female Staffordshire terrier called Mia, the jury heard.

Mr Altman said the victim was in a group of six from the nearby Stockwell Gardens estate who had come into the park.

He said: "The attack was described by one shocked onlooker as vicious and as mirroring the behaviour of a pack of wild animals.

"Seyi Ogunyemi was stabbed to death therefore in what was a quite deliberate and planned attack."

All three defendants were "both present and participating in the general attack albeit in different ways," Mr Altman told the jury.

"They were not alone. There were clearly others who, despite a thorough police investigation, have not been identified or caught."

The case continues.