Two teenagers with a string of knife crime convictions have been jailed for life after disemboweling their 17-year-old victim, leaving him to die in the street.
Ezra Abeka-Soares and Morgan Mockford, both 18, leaped out from behind a telephone box to ambush Elijah Dornelly and his friend just before midnight on May 7.
Mr Dornelly, who played for his school football team and had been accepted on a business traineeship, managed to dodge Abeka-Soraes’ knife, but was then brutally stabbed in the stomach by Mockford.
He staggered along Walthamstow High Street in east London ‘with his intestines spilling out’.
Ezra Abeka-Soares (right) and Morgan Mockford (left), both 18, leaped out from behind a telephone box to ambush Elijah Dornelly and his friend just before midnight in Walthamstow, east London on May 7
The teenager managed to make it to Arabian Nights, a nearby shisha cafe, but suffered massive blood loss and died two hours later. His friend escaped unharmed.
After the attack his killers rode off on bikes, leaving Mr Dornelly for dead.
Abeka-Soares had six previous convictions for carrying a knife but his most serious punishment was a 12 month ‘detention and training order’ for his last offence in September 2016.
Mockford was previously convicted of carrying a knife and dealing cannabis in November 2016, just six months before the murder.
Sentencing them at the Old Bailey today, Judge Andrew Lees said: ‘I am sure Elijah and his friend knew nothing of the ambush that was about to happen. They were just walking in the street.
‘You dismounted from your bicycles, concealed yourselves behind a phone kiosk, withdrew your knives and waited as they came up the street.
‘I am sure you were the aggressors and Elijah and his friend did nothing at all to provoke this attack.
‘It was you who were carrying knives. There is no question of any self defence. You both sought to suggest that Elijah was or may have been acting aggressively – I utterly reject that.
‘You both have previous convictions for carrying knives.’
Mr Dornelly’s mother Edith Acayo-Ogol spoke of her devastation at today’s hearing, describing his ‘beautiful smile’ and how he was a ‘good, helpful boy’.
She was also planning how to celebrate her son’s upcoming 18th birthday before he was murdered.
Mr Dornelly (pictured), 17, staggered along Walthamstow High Street in east London ‘with his intestines spilling out’ before entering a nearby shisha cafe. He died two hours later
She told the jury: ‘He was a good helpful boy. He loved football and played for Kelmscott Secondary School.
‘He had also been accepted on a business traineeship.
‘Since his life was taken from us these events have dominated our family’s thoughts.
‘My health has deteriorated. I struggle to sleep at nights.
‘When I am at home in the evenings sometimes I will think Elijah is going to walk in through the door and I will see his beautiful smile.’
A crowdfunding page was set up and a vigil held after his death which raised over £3,000 for his funeral.
A statement on the page read: ‘Following his death, it has left family and friends of Elijah’s to be distraught, knowing what an amazing personality that shone so bright.
‘A gleaming smile that would lighten the misery of each day.
‘Wherever he set foot a joyful bubble followed him every step of the way and now he leaves us without a warning, farewell or goodbye.
‘We all sit here shattered in regret, sorrow and pain questioning why.’
Prosecutor Jonathan Rees described the attack as an ‘ambush’, while the defendants, who were ‘off patch’ in Walthamstow to deal £1,400 of drugs, maintained they thought they would be attacked because of the way the victim walked.
CCTV images capture the killers riding off on their bikes after the attack, leaving the victim for dead
Rees told jurors: ‘Both of these defendants were armed with knives.
‘Elijah’s friend managed to escape and run away but Elijah was not so fortunate.
‘Because while he managed to avoid the first blow from Ezra Abeka, he was unable to avoid a lunge from Morgan Mockford who stabbed him once to the gut.
‘The knife entered his belly and cut the aorta, the main artery in the body, causing massive and fatal blood loss.
‘Despite being fatally wounded Elijah Dornelly ran off and he made his way to a shisha cafe called Arabian Nights and subsequently collapsed.
‘His intestines were spilling out of his belly.’
Abeka-Soares tried to justify his actions, but jurors failed to buy his claims of self defence.
He said: ‘Basically they was kind of slouched and that kind of signalled that he might be armed.
‘That’s how it is nowadays.
‘I had instinct, I had a feeling in my gut – we couldn’t risk running off and getting stabbed from behind.’
Bystanders in the cafe tried to help Mr Dornelly but he had suffered a cut to the major blood vessel in his stomach and died at 1.15am the following day.
The killers were arrested at their homes after CCTV footage from a nearby fast food restaurant revealed their identities.
Speaking after the hearing, Detective Inspector Ian Lott, of the Met’s Homicide and Major Crime Command, said: ‘Elijah was ambushed in a sudden attack by these two defendants and in an instant the stab wound that would end his life was inflicted.
‘This is another tragic reminder of the sad consequences of disaffected young people carrying and using knives, seemingly without a thought for the repercussions, and the lives being taken and ruined by senseless violence.’
It has previously been reported that Elijah was returning home from an anti-knife-crime rally when he was attacked, but no evidence of this was heard during the trial.
The killers were arrested at their homes a week later after police identified them from CCTV footage at a nearby fast food restaurant.
Abeka-Soares, of Southall, west London, was handed a life sentence with a minimum of 19 years – starting from when he is 25 because of his age and ‘lack of intent to kill’.
Mockford, of Walthamstow, was handed 17 years, with 30 months concurrent for carrying a knife.