Stabbed in row over football match

A 15-year-old boy bled to death in a north London street after being stabbed by a gang of youths.

Kayser Osman was wounded in the leg and chest on the Church End estate in Harlesden as he walked home from a youth club last night after what police think was a row about a football match.

He was found lying in the street at about 6pm by a passer-by who raised the alarm, but paramedics were unable to save him and he died 50 minutes later.

Parts of the huge estate were sealed off as forensic scientists examined the scene and searched for the murder weapon, which police think could be a kitchen knife.

The killing comes two years after 10-yeartheold Damilola Taylor was stabbed in the leg and left to bleed to death in Peckham.

The officer leading the murder hunt described the killing of Kayser as a senseless and brutal attack following a row over a "trivial matter".

Detective Superintendent Lewis Benjamin said "early indications suggest the fracas may have been caused by a row over a football match. We believe the victim had been involved in an on-going row with another group of boys. We believe we are looking for a single attacker."

Mr Benjamin said the argument was between a mixed group of black and Somali youths and Somalian-born Kayser. He said gang consisted of nine or 10 youths, whom Kayser is believed to have known, but police are still trying to find out who was with him and who attacked him, although they say they have some idea of who was responsible.

Mr Benjamin said: "This was a senseless and brutal attack on a young man who had his whole life ahead of him. His family are absolutely distraught and struggling to come to terms with their grief."

Michael Corner, 33, who lives opposite the spot in Taylors Lane where Kayser was attacked, described how police and paramedics tried to save him.

"One officer was pumping, pumping away on the boy's chest," he said. "Then some paramedics began operating on him. About 20 officers took out their torches, shining them down to give them some light to work by."

Minutes before the stabbing, another witness, Mark Ryan, 26, had intervened when a gang of about 10 youths attacked a boy of similar appearance to Kayser yards from the murder scene. He said: "I saw a load of young black kids aged between 13 and 16 and they all steamed into one kid. I told them to keep away. I saw someone coming around with a stick towards him. I told him to go away. As he went, he said he was going to get a knife.

"I had separated the group and stopped the fight so I thought it was all right to go but now I've heard that a kid of this boy's age was stabbed moments later. I feel I should have stayed with him a bit longer."

Kayser, a pupil at Willesden High School, who was due to take his GCSEs this summer, had come to Britain from Somalia with his family in 1989 to make a new life. Today, his college student brother Awil, 18, begged: "Please, if anyone has information, help us before the murderer is allowed to strike again.

"My brother wouldn't hurt anyone. He loved hip-hop music and was studying for his GCSEs. It is so cruel that he has been snatched away from us. He didn't have an enemy in the world.

"We just want to know why somebody would want to do that. Come forward with anything you know even if you believe it might be insignificant."

He said the family, who live in Bruce Road, Harlesden, first learned of Kayser's stabbing when "someone knocked on the door and said 'Your brother's been stabbed, come quickly'". He added: "When we got there, he was already dead."

Awil described his brother as "not the type to go around looking for fights". He said: "He was just a normal teenager who used to mind his own business. He used to come home from school and just go to the youth club or play football."

Awil, one of five children, said the family had lived in Harlesden for five years. Their parents are separated and they live with their mother Marian, 41. Their father, Abdulqudir, 50, who has recently had to give up work because of illness, lives in east London.

A friend of Kayser, Mohammad Dahir, 19, who had known him for five years, said: "He was quite a funny guy and easy to get along with. He was a keen musician. His dream was to be a hip-hop or R&B musician. He just wanted to finish his education and make his mum proud."

Another friend, Hodan Abdi, 17, added: "He was a really pleasant child. He never harmed anybody. He never got in fights. He just wanted to do his best in life."

Minutes before the attack, Kayser had been chatting with other friends in the estate's Acorn Youth Club, where he spent much of his spare time.

A friend, who would not be named for fear of reprisals, left the club with him shortly before 6pm but headed off in a different direction. Ten minutes later, he returned to find Kayser dying yards from where he had left him.

He said: "I had been talking to him in The Acorn. I saw him leave, then the next time I saw him he was dying. I ran to where he was lying. He was on the floor with his head to the side, not speaking. He looked like he was dead. He was not speaking, but he was gasping for breath.

"There were loads of people from the youth club around him. Someone was standing over him, checking his pulse and speaking to the ambulance on a mobile phone. Then the police arrived and started to give him mouth-mouth resuscitation. But Kayser was not moving or responding. "

Parents said the estate was plagued by trouble and they were afraid to leave their children on their own. Mother-of-four Alison Sakyi said: "It's awful here. It scares me."

A mother of two, who did not wish to be named, said life was "terrible" on the estate, adding: "There are knifings and muggings on a daily basis here. It is a savage, lawless place. People are afraid to speak out because they fear the gangs will seek them out."

Anyone with information should call police on 020 8247 7911 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

'I held Kayser as he lay gasping'
Breeding ground for crime and drugs
Somalis are most victimised
Local crime figures