Highlights
- Jury convicts Chukwuemeka Ahanonu of murder at Leicester Crown Court.
- Victim was attacked minutes after a dangerous crash in the city centre.
- Family remember her as a kind and loving mother with much life ahead of her.
Just minutes before the attack Ahanonu had been driving erratically through Leicester city centre swerving across lanes and driving through red lights before crashing his car.
He then fled the scene and stamped on Patel who was simply walking home. Security officers from the hospital restrained him until police arrived.
Patel suffered a fractured skull and brain injury and died in hospital two days later. Ahanonu was found to have been smoking cannabis and had dealer bags of the drug with him in the car.
Trial details
Ahanonu had admitted manslaughter dangerous driving possession of cannabis with intent to supply and assault of an emergency worker but denied murder claiming diminished responsibility.
He chose not to give evidence in his defence and told police during interviews he could only remember the crash and not the attack on Patel.
The court heard he was out on licence at the time from a 24-month jail sentence for offences including possession of a bladed article and breaching a suspended sentence order.
Detective inspector Emma Matts said: "This was the most horrific violent and random attack by a stranger on a kind gentle and loving woman who was simply making her way home."
Patel's children Jaidan and Danika paid a heartfelt tribute to their mother saying she was "quiet gentle funny kind loving and deeply caring."
They added: "Mum still had so much life ahead of her. She should have had the chance to grow old to enjoy retirement to become a grandmother and to celebrate many more milestones with her family.
All of those moments have now been taken away from her and from us."
