Man found guilty of murdering 'peacemaker' by stabbing him in heart

A man has been found guilty of murder after stabbing a “peacemaker” in the heart in Leicester. Victor-Eduard Raja, 25, fatally knifed Sidney Palmer as Mr Palmer was trying to break up a fight in which Raja had become involved.

CCTV showed Raja arming himself with a knife before swinging it towards 59-year-old Mr Palmer in Conduit Street, next to Leicester Railway Station, on Saturday, September 30, last year. During a trial at Leicester Crown Court, Raja told the jury that he had been offered £20 worth of the drug mamba to start a fight, but had accidentally stabbed Mr Palmer while trying to get away.

Raja's co-defendant, 31-year-old Michael Berlin, was found guilty of manslaughter after the jury heard that he and Nathan Pritchard, 29, who pleaded guilty to manslaughter at the beginning of the trial, had sent Raja to give a man a “couple of slaps” following two altercations earlier that evening.

READ MORE: Murder accused had been paid £20 of mamba to 'slap' man outside Dawn Centre in Leicester city centre

The prosecution told the jury that at shortly after 6.15pm on the day in question, Pritchard was punched by an unknown person believed to be acting on behalf of a man involved in an earlier altercation with Pritchard outside a shop in London Road.

Police said the prosecution believed Raja, of no fixed address, was instructed by Pritchard, also of no fixed address, to attack an “associate” of the "first man" involved in the altercation after Pritchard became involved in an argument in Conduit Street at around 7pm.

The court was told that Berlin, of Great Central Way, Leicester, threatened the man, and then Raja arrived and started a fight with the man, “violently punching him".

Several people then intervened, one of whom was Sidney Palmer, who was not involved at all in the wider incident and who tried to act as a peacemaker attempting to pull Raja away. Raja then swung towards Mr Palmer with a knife, initially missing, before striking him with such force that the knife went through Mr Palmer’s heart and left a wound on his spine.

While giving evidence at court, Raja said he had not taken the knife with him to the scene, and had disarmed the man, called Bailey Taylor. Raja said: “I was being strangled and punched in the head. I heard them say, '**** him up'.

"Bailey Taylor had a knife. I put my hand on top of it. I grabbed it. I'd been grabbed from behind. I thought I was going to be dragged to the floor and be badly injured. I tried getting free, moving my arms around, trying to get everybody off me."

Leicestershire Police officers established that after the attack, Raja had taken a taxi and was dropped off in Blackbird Road, in Leicester. Raja was later picked up by his mother, Diana Bodrug, who drove him to Yorkshire and assisted in booking him into accommodation under false details and bought him a new phone SIM card.

Police traced Raja to an address and he was arrested by armed officers in the early hours of Thursday, October 5. After being interviewed by detectives, where he gave 'no comment' answers, Raja was charged with murder and remanded into custody.

Yesterday (Wednesday, June 5) at Leicester Crown Court he was found guilty of murder and possession of a bladed article. Bodrug, 49, of Melton Road, Syston, pleaded guilty to assisting an offender. Raja, Bodrug, Berlin and Pritchard will be sentenced on Monday, June 24.

A 34-year-old man was found not guilty of manslaughter following the trial.

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