Man charged with murder more than six years after knife attack on teenager
A man has been charged with the murder of a 22-year-old man who died more than six years after a knife attack which left him with brain damage.
Jamel Boyce died at a care home in Uffington Road, West Norwood, on February 13, 2022, as a result of injuries he sustained in a stabbing in October 2016.
Jamel was aged 17 when he was stabbed outside a supermarket in Triangle Place, Clapham, on 14 October 2016.
Police officers and the London Ambulance Service attended and found Jamel with stab wounds to the chest and leg. While the latter wound was superficial, the former had penetrated his heart and punctured his lung which caused Jamel to collapse and go into cardiac arrest.
Paramedics and a trauma team who treated him at the scene performed surgery at the roadside and managed to restart Jamel’s heart before he was rushed to hospital. However he had been deprived of oxygen for a critical 14 minutes, which was found to have caused around a 75 to 80 per cent loss of brain function.
Doctors concluded that Jamel, a business student at St Francis Xavier College in Clapham, had been left in a brain dead state by the injury and was extremely unlikely to ever make any significant recovery.
A post-mortem examination held on February 16, 2022, gave a provisional cause of death as a penetrating injury to his chest.
An investigation following the incident concluded with a man being convicted and jailed for inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent.
Following Jamel’s death, detectives from the Met’s Specialist Crime Command began a new investigation and last month, the Crown Prosecution Service authorised a charge of murder.
Tyrese Osei-Kofi, 24, of no fixed address, is due to appear at Croydon Magistrates’ Court on December 27.
Jamel’s family has been informed of this development and they continue to be supported by officers.
Pictured top: Jamel Boyce (Picture: The Met)