A mother expressed her grief last week after four men were jailed for the killing of her son, who was just 17.
In a victim impact statement, Charisse James, the mother of murdered Shea Gordon, said: “My son went out that night to a party to enjoy himself and never made it back home.
It will haunt me for the rest of my life. This is something I will never get over.”
In September, 2022, Shea was stabbed to death outside an 18th birthday party on Lichfield Road, Mile End.
He ran away after he was attacked, but suffered a cardiac arrest and died later at the Royal London Hospital.
The 17-year-old victim was found with “three stab wounds; two to his right leg, and the fatal wound, to his upper chest”, according to Detective Chief Inspector Mark Rogers, who led the investigation, the Press Association reported.
The Met’s Specialist Crime Command found Snapchat messages on the attackers’ phones, showing that the assault was planned.
The four attackers were identified as Kavian Vaughans, 18, and Abdul Yaro, 19, both from Haringey, Dainnan Witter-Cameron, 18, from Enfield, and Giovanni Addae-Johnson, 18, from Tottenham.
All four denied murdering Gordon. Evidence found on CCTV and phone inquiries led to guilty verdicts after an eight-week trial at the Old Bailey and the four attackers were sentenced to jail last week. Vaughans and Yaro were convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 21 years. Witter-Cameron and Addae-Johnson were found guilty of manslaughter and were given eight years of imprisonment.
In a statement released by the Metropolitan Police, James thanked those who were involved in bringing her son’s killers to justice and said: “During the trial, we heard a lot about the good characters of the defendants and towards the end a character assassination of our beloved Shea. I would like to take this opportunity to tell you a bit about Shea and what he means to us.”
She continued: “Shea was the eldest of six, he was the best big brother, he would take them on days out, play with them, cook with them, pick them up when they fell, stick up for them and was always there for them. He was their best friend, their superhero. All of which has been taken from them.
“Shea got A’s in his GCSEs and then went on to study sports science, as he loved football, playing with QPR growing up. He also worked at his dad’s garage on top of reselling fashion garments, as he loved keeping up with latest trend. He loved fashion so much; Shea and his friend started their own clothing brand called ‘Uptown Location’.
“… As a family, we could not be more proud of him and honoured to have been a part of his journey in life. He gave us life; Shea was the sunlight our family needed. He was our biggest inspiration and will forever be our ‘Gogetta’. His legacy will forever live on.”
James condemned the four attacker’s behaviour in court saying that their laughter and joking during the trial demonstrated that they did not have “any remorse or compassion”.
