Four Teens Plead Guilty to Manslaughter of Chef Krzysztof
Stabbed over £12 while celebrating 30th birthday on Lillie Road
Four teenagers have pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey of being involved in the manslaughter of chef Krzysztof Rusek on Lillie Road in June 2011.
Ruairi Bicknell, 18, of Sinclair Road, West Kensington, pictured above; Akeem Salako, 18, of Talgarth Road, W14, pictured below; and two 17-year-old boys pleaded guilty to manslaughter On May 26, during the second week of the trial.
They will be sentenced on 23 April.
Detective Chief Inspector Nick Scola, of the Homicide and Serious Crime Command, said:" These four teenagers lived a life without boundaries. They were captured on CCTV aimlessly wandering the streets the day before, changing into darker hooded clothing to return after dark with a more sinister intent.
"The night that Krzysztof died he had been working hard on his 30th birthday to earn a modest living as a chef. When he finished his shift and decided to sit and celebrate his day their paths crossed with tragic consequences.
"The evidence gathered by specially trained detectives will make sure that after today's
convictions they will be held accountable for their actions and will no longer be free to roam
the streets and do as they please."
Police were called at approximately 1.50am on Tuesday, June 7, 2011 to reports of a man
stabbed in a park area off Lillie Road, SW6.
London Ambulance Service also attended and took the victim to hospital where he later died.
He was Krzysztof Rusek, a Polish man who had been living in the country for eight
years. He resided in the NW10 area at the time of his death.
A post-mortem examination at Fulham Mortuary gave cause of death as a stab wound to the
abdomen.
Enquiries revealed that Krzysztof had left work at the nearby Ibis Hotel at just after midnight
with his girlfriend and three colleagues. They planned to have a drink to celebrate Krzysztof's
30th birthday and brought some alcohol at a shop before walking past a fenced-off grassy area
in Lillie Road and deciding to sit at one of the picnic benches inside.
One of the colleagues left to go home at 1.40am and shortly afterwards the rest of the group
decided to follow. As they got up from the bench and walked towards the entrance of the grassed
area they were stopped by four boys all wearing their hoods up and two of them holding knives.
The suspects each confronted one of Krzysztof's group and demanded money and mobile phones. Whilst one of the victims handed over £12 in cash, another one of them struggled with one of the suspects and was stabbed in the leg.
Krzysztof also sustained two stab injuries, one of which proved to be fatal.
As officers carried out a fingertip search of the scene, a member of the public alerted them to
a knife discarded in a grass area in the nearby West Kensington Estate. The knife was recovered
and forensicated, which provided two fingerprint profiles which led officers to identify a then
17-year-old boy as a suspect.
The knife was confirmed to be the one used to stab Krzysztof's colleague by matching the tip
which had broken off and been left embedded in the victim's wallet when he had been stabbed.
The knife had not made contact with his skin because of the wallet which was in his pocket.
By trawling through hours of CCTV footage from the local area, detectives were able to identify
the remainder of the group and their movements on that night. This CCTV shows the group walking
around the area in the hours leading up to the robbery, where one of them can be seen carrying
a knife. They are also seen running from the scene afterwards
All four defendants were arrested on suspicion of murder in the early hours of Friday June 10
at addresses in Fulham and Hammersmith.
Two of the defendants claimed not to have been at the incident. The other two, including Ruairi
Bicknell, said they were there but had not taken part.
All four were subsequently charged with murder and remanded in custody for trial.
At the time of the murder, Detective Chief Inspector Nick Scola said: "This is a tragic waste of a young life, especially as Krzysztof was out celebrating his 30th birthday at the time.
" What started out as good natured night out with his girlfriend and colleagues has ended horrifically for the sake of a small sum of money."
March 27, 2012
