Two teenage boys admit murder of 14-year-old stabbed 27 times on London bus

Kelyan Bokassa was murdered on a bus in Woolwich,south-east London,in January (Picture: Family Handout/PA)

Two teenagers have pleaded guilty to the murder of a 14-year-old boy who was stabbed on a London bus.

Kelyan Bokassa was stabbed around 27 times by machete-wielding youths as he travelled home on a route 472 bus in Woolwich,on Tuesday January 7.

The aspiring rapper died at the scene shortly after medics arrived.

In an unusual move,Scotland Yard had issued CCTV images and named two boys as part of a public appeal for information.

The pair,both now aged 16,appeared at the Old Bailey today where they admitted murder.

Relatives of Kelyan gasped and appeared tearful as they sat metres away from the dock where the two boys sat flanked by officers.

Judge Mark Lucraft KC ordered reports ahead of sentencing on July 25.

A family friend described his ‘relief’ over the guilty pleas but said ‘nothing will bring Kelyan back to us.’

Jacques Tizier told Metro: ‘It’s a relief that they have pleaded guilty and justice is being done. But nothing will bring Kelyan back and everything is still a struggle for the family especially his mother.’

Mr Tizier was with the teenager’s family immediately after his death as they came together at the mother’s home in east London.

The living room was a shrine to Kelyan with enlarged photographs of the schoolboy laid out.

At the time Mr Tizier told Metro: ‘We are all heartbroken and trying to support his mother.’

At a previous hearing,prosecutor Tom Little KC told the court the victim was sitting on the back seat of the bus on the upper deck when he was attacked by two youths both armed with ‘lengthy machetes’.

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Kelyan’s killers were said to have known he was on the bus before getting on and went directly for him,the court heard.

Forensic officers at the scene of the stabbing (Picture: Marcin Nowak/LNP)

Mr Little said: ‘It is clear this is not a form of spontaneous incident. The two defendants must have known the deceased was on the bus.

‘They approach him and almost instantaneously the two of them pull out machetes and attacked the deceased.

‘He is stabbed or attempted to be stabbed on a total of 27 occasions before the defendants made their way off the bus.’

One of the machetes was allegedly discarded in the River Thames but later recovered.

After his death, Kelyan’s mum said her son had been groomed by gangs after running away from care and living on the streets.

Mary Bokassa said: ‘My son and others were taken advantage by gangs. They were groomed.’

She went on: ‘He was missing for a year and was living on the street. He finally turned up at my doorstep,he was sick,underweight and tattooed… He was exposed to drugs. He probably experienced something because I could sense it.

‘He was not himself. If I questioned him he wouldn’t tell me anything about his friends.’

The killers cannot be named because of their ages.

But Judge Lucraft indicated he would hear a media application to lift the reporting restriction at their sentencing hearing.