Duran Junior Kajiama: We have finally got justice, says mother as son's killer is convicted

The mother of a 17-year-old boy who was stabbed to death outside a fast-food restaurant said today “we have finally got justice” after his killer was convicted at the Old Bailey.

Duran Junior Kajiama died from a knife wound to his stomach and his 16-year-old friend was stabbed three times in the neck, back and arm.

They had been walking to a friend’s birthday party in Dagenham on November 12 last year when they were attacked.

Jurors heard that the killer, who was 16 at the time and cannot be identified for legal reasons, approached them outside a convenience store in Church Street and began talking “aggressively”.

He pulled out a knife and stabbed Duran outside a takeaway before attacking his friend. Duran staggered away but collapsed near a pub and died in hospital six hours later.

The killer, now 17, claimed at trial that he had been acting in self-defence and was armed because he feared being attacked by members of a local gang.

Speaking at the family home after the verdict, Duran’s mother Beatrice said: “We had to sit through all those lies but the judge and jury saw through them and gave us justice.

“It has been very difficult for me and my daughter. We are relieved and want the sentence to fit the crime. We finally got justice after all the terrible lies.”

She said her son “was a lovely, polite, respectful boy, everybody said so. We are devastated. He died for nothing.”

The killer was this week cleared of murder but convicted of manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility and the attempted murder of Duran’s friend. Adjourning sentencing until July 19, Judge Michael Topolski QC asked for a report on the threat the teenager could pose. “You took a life of an innocent boy, you very nearly took another life,” he said. “That’s something you are going to have to live with for the rest of your life.”

Turning to Duran’s family, he said: “This court has been extraordinarily impressed with the quiet, calm dignity of the family of Duran, a boy who lost his life for no good reason.”

Duran, a pupil at Palmer’s College in Grays, Essex, performed as Dee Milli with Dagenham rap group LoCo in a series of YouTube videos, and planned to study engineering at university.

Prosecutor Timothy Cray QC said Duran’s friend was unsure why the fight broke out: “His best guess was that there may have been jealousy from the defendants to them because they were doing well in life.” Two teenage co-defendants were cleared of all charges.