The teenager who stabbed to death 14-year-old Jermaine Cools on London Road, West Croydon, in November 2021, yesterday appeared at the Old Bailey where he entered a guilty plea.
Murdered: Jermaine Cools was 14 when he was killed in 2021
Cools was the youngest of five Croydon teens that were killed on the streets of Croydon in 2021. He was attacked in a fight involving a number of people outside a chicken shop near the railway station on November 18, 2021.
His assailant was arrested just over a month after the attack. Aged 17, he is too young to be named in media reports. He is due to be sentenced on February 24.
Cools’ father, Julius Cools, family and friends were at the court.
Julius Cools, who runs a Caribbean takeaway in West Croydon, said, “This guy took our life, and our son and everything we had so even though he’s in court, he’s laughing.
“There’s nothing that can help us from going through what we’re going through.
Grieving: Julius Cools (third from left), and family and friends of Jermaine outside court yesterday
“This guy killed our son, he murdered our innocent baby just like that for no reason.”
The Metropolitan Police said that on the night of the murder, the defendant had been observed on CCTV walking towards a fight that had broken out, with a knife in his pocket.
When Jermaine fell over, the defendant was seen to run towards him and he repeatedly lunged at Jermaine with a knife, who was frantically trying to avoid being stabbed, before running off, the force said.
A member of the public helped Jermaine into a car and drove him to Mayday Hospital, where he died just over an hour later.
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