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Two jailed for gang attack murder

Two men have been jailed for life for murdering a man who stepped in to save his friend from a gang attack.

Bullabek Ringbiong, 20, and Sam Hallam, 18, had tried to attack a teenager on St Luke's estate in central London's Clerkenwell, in October 2004.

But as the 40-strong gang armed with spiked bats and knives set upon him, the victim crawled free and his friend Essayas Kassahun waded in to help.

Mr Kassahun, 21, was stabbed in the head and died two days later.

'Totally disproportionate'

The Old Bailey heard the attack was a "totally disproportionate act of revenge", planned after a confrontation outside the Toffee Park Youth Club on the estate a few days earlier.

The gang, sometimes known as the Hoxton Biker Boys because they rode BMXs, had let it be known they were after Louis Colley, 19, because it was thought he had "stared down" one of the group.

Armed with baseball bats with spikes, knives, and dressed in hooded tops, dark clothes and scarves, they set upon Mr Colley.

Prosecutor David Hatton QC told the court: "He was knocked to the ground.

"Happily for him, and possibly because there were so many people crowded round him, he was able to crawl out of the melee with little injury, and ran into a nearby shop.

"Another reason, no doubt, was because a friend of his, Essayas Kassahun, tried to save him. He, for his trouble, was attacked himself and stabbed to death."

Judge Richard Hone said: "It is especially sad when the best receive the worst in life."

Ringbiong was told he would be held in custody for at least 15 years, Hallam was ordered to be detained for a minimum of 12 years.

Another man, Scott White, 17, also from Hoxton, east London, was convicted of conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm and was sentenced to eight years' youth detention.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4463530.stm

I know this story is quite old, but it was brought to my attention because the second gentleman mentioned in the article, Sam Hallam, went to the same secondary school as me.

Couple of questions for discussion:

What leads people to this kind of "disproportionate revenge"?

What measures can be taken to prevent what seems to Britain's increasing "knife culture"?

Discuss...

Scroll to see replies

Socrates
What measures can be taken to prevent what seems to Britain's increasing "knife culture"?


The same steps being those advocated to inhibit films which glorify guns and other weaponry?
Is there really a growing problem? or just a blip in the stats for a "problem" that's always there? Is there a national increase in knife attacks across all types of communities or is this just an inner city problem?

Disproportionate revenge is all about face and 'respeck' - quite a surprising consideration for a twenty year old rider of a bike marketed at nerdish children named Bullabek Ringbiong.

Hoxton was supposedly "gentrified". I guess it remains a place to enjoy vibrant local colour, eh Socrates?
Reply 3
I think the spiked bats and likely brass knuckles that they carried would more than make up for a lack of knives. This is a gang problem, not a knife problem. The hysteria over knives in Britain is nauseating.
I may be wrong about this, but I think I read somewhere that in Britain we could carry firearms on our person without licence until 1914. In those days BMX riders (or equivalent) were stared down and happy about it.

edit:I was thinking this:http://www.seangabb.co.uk/pamphlet/guns2.htm
We need snipers on every roof and tanks installing 9pm curfews.
Reply 6
What measures can you take to stop people from acting like animals? How do you get people to treat others with respect and decency, the British values that I’ve been brought up with? What sort of mindset makes people think that they’ve got to be armed to walk the streets safely?

A fuel bomb wiping out anybody that shares any blood with the "40-strong gang" is the only way we can ensure that such violent cowards, at least in that pocket of the country, aren't produced again.

------------------------------

On a side note, I was accosted by a group of unsightly fellows on the tube to Archway late the other night. I was with a couple of mates, who’re fairly thuggish looking but harmless and the whole experience was somewhat worrying. Given the scaremongering at the moment I was pretty sure we were about to be stabbed.

I don’t know why, but the next sequence of events was very odd. Having recently had my head shaved and donning a nice new Stone Island piece, I went into Northern Hooligan mode. It was almost a reflex reaction; I started flailing around the place being generally intimidating and dare I say it bigoted, expressing my dismay that in “my own country” (irony) I should be exposed to such treatment. And would you believe it the group got off at the next stop. This is a rather harrowing story, I know, but I at least started to understand why people can easily fall in line with extremist views; when you’re scared you want something to act as an emblem of defence.
Reply 7
These sort of people are the one thing I hate most about this country, period. I think the solution is simple - life sentences, for life, for all members of any group that murders someone, assuming there is evidence to show they were part of the group with violent intent. Simple. What more deterrent is necessary? In this case, those 40 thugs are gone forever, and ten more gangs think twice before going out to murder.

I would be willing to pay extra tax to get these people off the streets.

Oh - and obviously I also support massive increases in the jail time for robbery and GBH too. Violent crime is a plague.
We need...Vigilante justice! Wahey!
Reply 9
its the absent father phenomenon isnt it? combined with some other disadvantage, percieved or otherwise.
they end up creating their own rules
Reply 10
Just to sidetrack this...but also does it not seem slightly unfair that only 3 people were cited and tried for this murder where a gang of 40 people was involved?
I agree with Bismarcks statement though - this is a gang problem, and one which is much more serious than the knife problem...but that has just recieved a lot of press recently.
Reply 11
ArthurOliver
Is there really a growing problem? or just a blip in the stats for a "problem" that's always there? Is there a national increase in knife attacks across all types of communities or is this just an inner city problem?

Disproportionate revenge is all about face and 'respeck' - quite a surprising consideration for a twenty year old rider of a bike marketed at nerdish children named Bullabek Ringbiong.

Hoxton was supposedly "gentrified". I guess it remains a place to enjoy vibrant local colour, eh Socrates?


Interesting you don't mention the white caucasian Sam Hallam.:rolleyes:

This isn't a racist problem, so don't try and make it sound like one.

Ok, so Bizzy and Biker, how do we solve the gang problem?

Hoxton has been a rough area for as long as I've known, but murder is serious even in Hoxton.
Socrates
Interesting you don't mention the white caucasian Sam Hallam.:rolleyes:

This isn't a racist problem, so don't try and make it sound like one.

Ok, so Bizzy and Biker, how do we solve the gang problem?

Hoxton has been a rough area for as long as I've known, but murder is serious even in Hoxton.
Sam Hallam is not a name which would draw mockery like Bullabek Ringbiong.

Murder and violent crime didn't used to be rare in Hoxton - even forty years ago the gang problem there was an issue. They were White gangs - Lenny Maclean and his pals for example.

I think you're chastising me for making race an issue when I did no such thing is a variation on a freudian slip - the gang problem is after all rather more of a problem in certain communities and friction between different community's gangs has been flagged up several times in the newspsapers lately. My only view on it is to hope as many as possible kill each other, including the White thugs - and spare innocents.
Reply 13
ArthurOliver
the gang problem is after all rather more of a problem in certain communities and friction between different community's gangs has been flagged up several times in the newspsapers lately.

Well this gang has at least one black and one white member. So how do you explain that clever cloggs? :smile:
Reply 14
kizer
These sort of people are the one thing I hate most about this country, period. I think the solution is simple - life sentences, for life, for all members of any group that murders someone, assuming there is evidence to show they were part of the group with violent intent. Simple. What more deterrent is necessary? In this case, those 40 thugs are gone forever, and ten more gangs think twice before going out to murder.

I would be willing to pay extra tax to get these people off the streets.

Oh - and obviously I also support massive increases in the jail time for robbery and GBH too. Violent crime is a plague.


i totally agree, kizer, Those thugs will probably only serve half their sentances:rolleyes: , They should have been given life, they murdered a "good-willed person", trying to help; Only life behind bars justifies this kind of heartless crime. if other gangs see the consequences of their actions, they would be definently be detered, we are too soft with the law on these criminals.
the justice system in this country punishes the victims of crime and their families, not the criminals.

we have no respect in this country, people will contine to commit these spiteful crimes, unless there is decent punishment given to the criminals. we need to stop worring about "human rights" legislation etc...., so much, and start punishing criminals properly!!
ArthurOliver
Is there really a growing problem? or just a blip in the stats for a "problem" that's always there? Is there a national increase in knife attacks across all types of communities or is this just an inner city problem?

Disproportionate revenge is all about face and 'respeck' - quite a surprising consideration for a twenty year old rider of a bike marketed at nerdish children named Bullabek Ringbiong.

Hoxton was supposedly "gentrified". I guess it remains a place to enjoy vibrant local colour, eh Socrates?


I think this stuff is more prevalent amongst ethnic minorities. That's all I'm saying. Don't know wtf is wrong with them.
Reply 16
naivesincerity
I think this stuff is more prevalent amongst ethnic minorities. That's all I'm saying. Don't know wtf is wrong with them.


did somebody say ethnics? yeah, wtf is wrong with them. why do they keep bringing their backward ethnic traditions over here. It's ok to do that where they come from, but not here. :mad:

AO - I'm with you on this one, bruva. :mad:

:rolleyes:
Reply 17
naivesincerity
I think this stuff is more prevalent amongst ethnic minorities. That's all I'm saying. Don't know wtf is wrong with them.

yeah, and the majority of this 40 strong gang are white caucasians. :rolleyes:

Damn these ethnics who are corrupting these "pure innocent whites". :mad: :rolleyes:
Soc,

what the hell you on about? As I said before - your making this a race issue indicates that you believe to some extent it is.

We all know that if the youth in every community behaved like the Orth.Js in Golders Green, or the young Cumbrian farmers there'd be no knife or gang issue to even speak of. But so what?

Is this intended to be a "bad Whites exist" thread? or is it a stab at knife culture and a group debate on gang issues?
Reply 19
You claimed that there are tensions between different communities.

Do explain what you mean, if you don't mean race?

We all know that if the youth in every community behaved like the Orth.Js in Golders Green, or the young Cumbrian farmers there'd be no knife or gang issue to even speak of. But so what?

The question is why aren't youth behaving like them, and why they are behaving like animals?
Is this intended to be a bad Whites exist thread? or is it a stab at knife culture and a group debate on gang issues?

It is intended to discuss what leads a group of people to intend to murder an innocent young man and murdering another young man in the process.

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