London - A boy of 16 whose family fled Zimbabwe for a better life in Britain was stabbed to death in broad daylight in a “tit for tat” row between schools, it emerged on Sunday night.
Yemurai Lovemore Kanyangarara was knifed in the neck as he stepped off a bus with a friend in what some detectives have described as one of the most brutal murders they have investigated in 25 years.
Minutes before the attack, his assailant had been seen showing off a knife on a bus to a friend who said: “I cannot wait to see this.”
Police believe the “gentle” and “polite” teenage victim, who had only taken his GCSEs two weeks earlier, was targeted by a group of yobs in a revenge attack.
It is thought that the pupil from St Columba’s Roman Catholic Boys’ School in Bexleyheath, Kent, may have been stabbed over a petty feud with a rival group of boys from Blackheath Bluecoat School in South East London - attended by Stephen Lawrence.
Yemurai was confronted by three black youths who had got off a bus in front.
In an attack of what police described as “sheer brutality against a defenceless schoolboy”, Yemurai was stabbed once in the neck with such ferocity that the blade pierced his main artery, before all three fled just after 5pm on Friday.
The talented Welling United footballer desperately tried to make a call on his mobile phone as he staggered into a shop doorway.
He collapsed on the busy high street in Welling, South East London, as horrified shoppers tried to stem the blood loss with towels. Onlookers described seeing blood “pouring” out of his neck.
Yemurai was pronounced dead upon arrival at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, in Woolwich.
Officers are now scouring CCTV evidence to identify the attackers.
On Sunday his mother, Sharon Jambawo, who works at Lambeth Hospital, was too distraught to speak about her only son’s death.
The family, who fled the bloodshed in their native Zimbabwe when Yemurai was just two years old, were on Sunday wailing in grief at the family home in Kent.
A family member said: “She is extremely upset. He was the light of her life.”
The victim’s father, Kelton Kanyangarara, posted a message on Facebook last night saying: “My boy is gone it is so painful my heart is bleeding. RIP My boy I will always love you.”
And the victim’s girlfriend Amber on Sunday left a tribute at the scene.
It read: “Yemurai Lovemore, my one and only. You’re gone? I don’t understand and I’m so confused.
“On July 1st, 2011, the best thing that happened to me died, and was taken away.
“My boyfriend, my baby, my rod. Rest in Perfect Peace.” The detective heading the murder investigation described his killing as “sickening”.
Detective Chief Inspector Mark Dunne of the Metropolitan Police, said: “This is among the very worst cases I have investigated in 25 years with the police.
“It is as bad as it gets because of the sheer brutality of it.”
It was initially suggested that the schoolboy was targeted for his mobile phone, but police dismissed reports of a robbery. Officers believe the victim knew his attackers and the murder may be linked to other attacks.
On Sunday night there was speculation on Facebook and Twitter about the tension between the two rival school groups thought to have led to his death.
One friend wrote on Facebook: “RIP Why Did Blackheath bluecoats Kill Him?”
Another close friend said: “The boys who did this were from a rival school.
“They obviously targeted him because they watched Yemi get off the bus.”
The teenager, who had been living with his father in Leicester for the past few months but returned to his Bexleyheath school for GCSEs, had applied to several sixth form colleges in the area.
His headmaster, Nigel Fisher, described him as a “polite and obedient boy who would do anything asked of him and do it with a smile” - Daily Mail