Teenagers admit machete murder of boy, 14, on bus

Two teenagers have pleaded guilty to the murder of a 14-year-old boy who was attacked with machetes on a bus in south-east London.

Kelyan Bokassa was stabbed 27 times as he travelled home on a route 472 bus in Woolwich on 7 January.

The two boys, both aged 16, who cannot be named because of their age, appeared at the Old Bailey, where they also admitted to carrying a bladed weapon. Both had previous convictions, including for having a knife in a public place, while one of them had a referral order in place at the time of the murder.

Judge Mark Lucraft KC ordered reports ahead of sentencing, which is set to take place on Friday 25 July.

Emergency services were called to Woolwich Church Street, near Woolwich Ferry, just before 14:30 GMT, but Kelyan had sustained a severed femoral artery and died shortly after medics arrived.

Scotland Yard later issued CCTV images of two boys as part of a public appeal for information.

As the pleas were entered, Kelyan's mother was heard crying in court.

Other relatives gasped and appeared tearful as they sat metres away from the dock where the two boys sat.

Proceedings were briefly delayed after one of the boys' barristers asked for time to speak to his client, following what had appeared to be an unexpected plea.

Later, the youth returned to court and confirmed his guilty plea.

At an earlier hearing, prosecution barrister Tom Little KC said 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".

The defendants knew in advance that Kelyan was likely to be on the bus when they boarded, and walked directly towards him, the court was told.

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 discarded in the River Thames but was later recovered.

Det Ch Insp Sarah Lee, who led the Metropolitan Police's investigation said she wanted to express the force's "heartfelt sympathies" to Kelyan's family.

"The brutal and senseless attack has deeply impacted his friends, the wider community and everyone that has worked tirelessly to identify, arrest and prosecute those responsible.

"I hope Kelyan's family can take some solace in this outcome but I know they remain deeply bereft at the waste of three young lives."

At Friday's hearing, Judge Lucraft indicated he would hear a media application to lift the reporting restriction banning identification of the defendants at their sentencing hearing.

Keylan was the first teenager to be killed by knife crime in London in 2025.

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