A grinning killer who stabbed to death a father-of-two waiting outside a Poundland store for his young daughter to buy sweets, was jailed for 18 years today. Abraham Omotoso, 27, stabbed 34-year-old Mohamed Al-Zufairi in the chest in front of horrified shoppers in Wealdstone High Street in Harrow, northwest London.
Omotoso was seen smiling as he fled the scene in a black Range Rover but was arrested the next day as he tried to board a flight to Lagos in Nigeria. He had confronted Mr Al-Zufairi because of 'bad blood' between his older brother and Mr Al-Zufairi's older brother.
Omotoso, who has a previous conviction for carrying a knife, was cleared of murder but convicted of manslaughter after two trials at the Old Bailey. Jurors heard Mr Al-Zufairi had taken his young daughter to the shop to buy sweets at around 6.50pm on February 27 this year.
CCTV cameras captured him waiting outside the shop as Omotoso, wearing a parka with the hood pulled up, got out of a Range Rover and approached him. After a short argument Omotoso pulled out a knife and stabbed Mr Al-Zufairi once in the chest before running off.
Mr Al-Zufairi died in hospital at 2.30am the next day from the wound to his left lung and heart.
Omotoso paid £425 in cash for a one way plane ticket to Lagos in Nigeria but was arrested at Gatwick Airport hours later, at 5.40pm on February 28.
The court heard that when he was shown CCTV footage of the incident during his police interview, Omotoso told police 'No, it's not me'.
Omotoso later accepted stabbing Mr Al-Zufairi but claimed he acted in self-defence.
Mr Al-Zufairi's sister Fatima said his daughter was still receiving counselling and 'has been left sad, frightened and scared.'
In a statement, Mohamed's brother Jafar said: 'Mohamed was a family man, his family came first.
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'It's like a massive hole just suddenly appeared in our family, our big brother was there one minute and suddenly he was snatched away.
'I think it has hit his daughter the hardest. She did not see her dad being stabbed, but was with him. She walked to the local shops to get some sweets with her dad and returned home without him.
'Our lives will never be the same, they have been scarred'
'I think it has hit his daughter the hardest. She did not see her dad being stabbed, but was with him. She walked to the local shops to get some sweets with her dad and returned home without him.
'Our lives will never be the same, they have been scarred'
Jurors heard Omotoso and a friend known as 'Trigger' had attacked Mr Al-Zufairi's younger brother Ahmed, 28, and beaten him with a fire extinguisher on the forecourt of an Esso petrol station on Wealdstone High Street on October 8, 2016.
Omotoso, his brother 'Venomous', and 'Trigger' had also produced knives in previous conflicts with the Al-Zufairi family.
Prosecutor Carey Johnston said: 'The police investigation was to discover that there was something of a history of ill feeling between the defendant, his brother Emmanuel, who was called 'Venomous', and a close friend of theirs, Tre, or 'Trigger' on one side, and some members of the Al-Zufairi family on the other.
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'Whatever the reason for the ill feeling and whatever shape it took, importantly, there is no evidence to suggest that it involved Mohammed Al-Zufairi himself.
'Suffice it to say at this stage that there appeared to be bad blood. There must have been for Omotoso to have stopped and parked the car when he saw Mohammed Al-Zufairi in the High Street, get out armed with a knife, and stab him. 'The attack was not a random attack of a stranger on a stranger.'
'Suffice it to say at this stage that there appeared to be bad blood. There must have been for Omotoso to have stopped and parked the car when he saw Mohammed Al-Zufairi in the High Street, get out armed with a knife, and stab him. 'The attack was not a random attack of a stranger on a stranger.'
The killer said in a letter to the judge he was 'sorry' and added: 'I didn't mean any of this to happen.'
Omotoso, from Harrow, was cleared of murder at the first trial but the jury failed to reach a verdict in the manslaughter charge.
He denied manslaughter at the second trial and was convicted.
Sentencing him, Judge Nicholas Cooke QC said:
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'Sadly the carrying of knives is all too common.
'The streets need to be made safe. It is impossible for the judiciary to do that alone but we must not contribute to the streets being made unsafe.
'Although she was not physically present, the victim had been with his eight year-old daughter. That is an aggravating factor.'
Detective Inspector Jon Meager from the Metropolitan Police said: 'This was a brutal attack in a busy high street which resulted in a young father losing his life.
'While his daughter did not witness the assault, it is something that is undoubtedly going to affect her for life.'
'The streets need to be made safe. It is impossible for the judiciary to do that alone but we must not contribute to the streets being made unsafe.
'Although she was not physically present, the victim had been with his eight year-old daughter. That is an aggravating factor.'
Detective Inspector Jon Meager from the Metropolitan Police said: 'This was a brutal attack in a busy high street which resulted in a young father losing his life.
'While his daughter did not witness the assault, it is something that is undoubtedly going to affect her for life.'
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