Posted on 03/11/2005 7:42:19 AM PST by nypokerface
A schoolboy who murdered a pizza shop worker by stabbing him through the heart in a row over a special offer has been given a life sentence. Hakeem Johnson, 14, of Highbury, north London, attacked Noor Kasimi, 32, at the Twin Star shop when he was refused a £1 pizza after the offer had ended.
Old Bailey Judge Gerald Gordon named Johnson on Friday, in an attempt to deter others from carrying knives.
He ordered Johnson stay in custody for at least eight-and-a-half years.
Johnson, who was 13 at the time of the murder, had been excluded from Homerton College of Technology after he threatened a teacher with a hammer in May last year.
A year before the murder the teenager had been placed under a supervision order after being convicted of common assault.
He had also been questioned about a number of knife-point robberies.
Mr Kasimi had only worked at the pizza shop for five days before he was killed.
The worker tried to get Johnson out of the shop with a broom after he lashed out with a knife.
But he was stabbed and died six days later in hospital.
Judge Gordon said: "You carried a knife as a weapon because it was what you chose to do, like too many young people these days.
"Young men or boys who choose to carry knives as weapons can expect no mercy from the courts."
Great Britain finally waking up.
I guess they need to ban all knives now.
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