- Wednesday, April 24, 2024
By: Pramod Thomas
THREE brothers and another man have been convicted of stabbing a man to death after chasing him with knives following an ongoing dispute.
Brothers Kamal, 23, Sukhminder, 25 , and Michael, 28, Sohal stabbed Osvaldo de Carvalho, 22, to death in West Lodge Avenue on 24 September 2019, the Metropolitan Police said.
The Croydon Crown Court on Friday (12) found Antoine George, 24, guilty of manslaughter. Another man, Karim Azab, 25, was found not guilty of murder, the statement added. They will be sentenced at a later date.
Sukhminder and Michael met the victim and two of his friends in Twyford Gardens on the night of the murder. The pair called their third brother, Kamal, for support and reinforcement.
According to the Met Police, Kamal came running, ‘brazenly’ brandishing a large hunting knife as he travelled along the Uxbridge Road to the scene from his home nearby.
George, who had also been in the house, went with Kamal to the scene of the dispute. The three brothers then chased Carvalho and his two friends. However, he became separated from the pair.
After catching up with him the group attacked him with knives, before leaving him to die on the ground.
The three brothers left the scene and returned to Kamal’s address. George left the area in a car which had been parked on the driveway outside Kamal’s flat.
Later that evening, Michael and Sukhminder set fire to clothes they had been wearing at the time of the stabbing.
The brothers were found guilty of murder following a trial at Croydon Crown Court on 16 February 2021.
A post mortem examination revealed that Carvalho had suffered multiple stab wounds, including a deep wound to his left leg which would have been caused by significant force.
The fatal wound was a stab wound to his back which was so deep it nearly passed through his body, the Police said.
An investigation was launched by detectives from the Specialist Crime South Command, under detective chief inspector Vicky Tunstall.
According to the Police, George and Sukhminder Sohal went to a shop in Hounslow that sold knives and purchased the weapons used and transported them to Kamal’s flat on the day of the murder. However, those weapons were never recovered.
It was with the assistance of witnesses and piecing together CCTV that police were able to trace and arrest the suspects.
DCI Tunstall, said: “This is a particularly tragic case with Osvaldo’s family having to live with the pain of his loss. We know there had been previous hostility between these two groups and sadly that culminated in the events that unfolded that evening.
“The Sohal brothers had no qualms about arming themselves and – in Kamal’s case – running down a busy main road waving the weapon around in full view of all those around. “They then subjected Osvaldo – who had no chance of defending himself – to a brutal and sustained attack.”
