Two street gangsters who murdered a 16-year-old Afghan refugee have been jailed for life.
Vanushan Balakrishnan and Ilyas Suleiman, both 18, stabbed to death Rishmeet Singh in a case of mistaken identity after wrongly thinking he belonged to a rival gang in November 2021.
The pair chased Rishmeet down a street in Southall, west London, and stabbed him at least 15 times – including five times in the back – after he tripped and fell.
Rishmeet, who had fled Afghanistan to escape the Taliban after they killed his father, was pronounced dead at the scene a short time later.
Balakrishnan and Ilyas Suleiman, who were 17 at the time of the murder, were today jailed for life with minimum terms of 24 years and 21 years respectively.
Ilyas Suleiman (left) and Vanushan Balakrishnan, both 18, killed the teenager in a case of mistaken identity after wrongly thinking he belonged to a rival gang in November 2021.
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Rishmeet Singh (pictured) was stabbed to death after being chased along a road in Southall in November 2021
The pair were earlier found guilty of murder following a trial at the Old Bailey,
The trial earlier heard how Rishmeet had been enjoying an evening at a park and was walking home when the two unknown males began running towards him.
Rishmeet immediately began sprinting towards his friends, who were shouting ‘run, run’.
But he tripped and fell to the floor in Raleigh Road, where one of the two defendants stabbed him five times in the back. The second attacker then stabbed him at least ten times, the court heard.
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