16-year-old who stabbed fellow teenager to death is jailed
Teen Danny Joseph Drake stabbed 17-year-old Alim Uddin seven times in a fatal attack in Brixton, south London. Uddin had gone to meet Drake to ask for his £90 back over a bike that Drake was supposed to deliver to him but never did.
Drake denied murder at first before changing his plea to guilty on the second day of his trial, he has been sentenced to a minimum of 13 years.
Prosecutor David Jeremy QC told the court, “This defendant stabbed Alim Uddin to death. The reason, if there can be a reason, was that Alim Uddin had given (the defendant) £90 to buy a bicycle from him.
“(The defendant) did not provide the bicycle and he did not give his cash back so the two of them arranged to meet so, as Alim Uddin understood it, he could be repaid.
“He was angry that (the defendant) had ripped him off. There were on both sides expressions of youthful bravado but nothing that suggested it would lead to a killing.
“The friends of Alim Uddin described the two boys as being wary of each other but said Alim was not angry or expecting a fight. He just wanted his money back.”
Uddin left his friends in the park and went alone to Drake at Tilford House, a fellow resident said he heard a thud just before 5pm and saw Uddin collapsed on the door step.
The teenager was pronounced dead an hour later in hospital, a post-mortem revealed seven stab wounds – four to the front of his chest, one to the lower back, one to the shoulder and one to the thigh.
The prosecutor said, “The stab wounds suffered by Alim Uddin and the complete lack of injury suffered by (the defendant) paints a clear picture of how Alim Uddin came to his death.”
Drake tried to escape suspicion by going home and emerging wearing a different top and carrying a bag, as displayed by CCTV footage. After police searched his home they discovered a blood-stained sweatshirt with Uddin’s DNA.
Police found the clothes after they followed the defendant to the second address with a black bag, which contained the murder weapon with the handle wrapped in a glove.
Detective Inspector Dave Reid said, “There is no indication Alim knew how dangerous and fatal the meeting would be.”
