Stephen Lawrence was stabbed to death in an alleged racist attack in Eltham, south-east London, in 1993. Photograph: Rex Features
The killing of the black teenager Stephen Lawrence was carried out by five like-minded white youths motivated by nothing more than racial animosity and the colour of his skin, an Old Bailey jury has been told on the opening of a murder trial the dead boy's family have waited 18 years to witness.
On a day of drama at the central criminal court in London, the jury was taken back to the night in April 1993 when the life of the promising A-level student was cut short by a group of white youths, who with a shout of "what, what nigger" rushed Lawrence, overwhelmed him, forced him to the ground and thrust a knife twice into his body. Each knife wound, one in the right collar bone, the second in the left shoulder, severed an artery.
"The only discernible reason for the attack was the colour of his skin," prosecuting counsel Mark Ellison, QC, told the jury in court 16.
"The way in which the attack was executed indicates that this group were a group of like-minded young, white men who acted together and reacted together. They shared the same racial animosity and motivation."
With the two defendants – Gary Dobson and David Norris, who deny murder – sitting in the dock above him, Stephen Lawrence's father Neville appeared unable to listen. Now grey and slightly stooped by age, he stood up and left the courtroom, leaving the boy's mother Doreen and their only surviving son Stuart to take in the proceedings.
...read moreOn a day of drama at the central criminal court in London, the jury was taken back to the night in April 1993 when the life of the promising A-level student was cut short by a group of white youths, who with a shout of "what, what nigger" rushed Lawrence, overwhelmed him, forced him to the ground and thrust a knife twice into his body. Each knife wound, one in the right collar bone, the second in the left shoulder, severed an artery.
"The only discernible reason for the attack was the colour of his skin," prosecuting counsel Mark Ellison, QC, told the jury in court 16.
"The way in which the attack was executed indicates that this group were a group of like-minded young, white men who acted together and reacted together. They shared the same racial animosity and motivation."
With the two defendants – Gary Dobson and David Norris, who deny murder – sitting in the dock above him, Stephen Lawrence's father Neville appeared unable to listen. Now grey and slightly stooped by age, he stood up and left the courtroom, leaving the boy's mother Doreen and their only surviving son Stuart to take in the proceedings.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/nov/16/stephen-lawrence-murder-trial
