Ruislip & Eastcote & Northwood Gazette
Teenage drug dealer jailed over fatal stabbing
A 17-year-old has been jailed for manslaughter for the “vicious” stabbing of Osman Shidane in South Ruislip.
The youth, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was a 16-year-old drug dealer in the area at the time of the attack.
A jury acquitted him of murdering Osman, a 20-year-old from Eastcote, at the Old Bailey last week.
However, he was convicted of manslaughter after plunging a knife into Osman three times.
One blow was about four inches deep to his right thigh, one was to his right arm that had gone right through his forearm and the fatal wound, which was about four inches deep, was to his neck just below the ear. The court was told that the wounds suffered were not grazes or glances, but significant stab wounds.
The boy was sentenced to sixand-a-half years in prison.
Osman was stabbed in an alleyway off Victoria Road, opposite Asda and Cineworld, after having arranged to meet for Osman to buy cannabis.
Osman was carrying a knife on the day of the incident (May 15) and detectives believe the same knife was found abandoned in the alleyway.
The knife used in the attack was never recovered.
Jurors were shown CCTV footage of both Osman and the young dealer entering the alleyway, but exactly what happened in the alleyway may never be known.
However, at around 9pm that day, outside St Gregory the Great Catholic Church, horrified onlookers saw a bleeding Osman stumble out of the alleyway, pursued by his killer.
Witnesses described the boy chasing Osman and placing him in a headlock before drawing an arm back and striking Osman in the throat or chest, and then running away from the scene.
Stunned members of the public ran to Osman’s aid, but he was bleeding heavily from his wounds and could be seen to be weakening.
Paramedics were called to the scene and rushed him to hospital, where he remained until May 18, succumbing to his “significant injuries”.
The following morning, the scene of his stabbing was covered in blood-soaked tissues, while the pavement opposite the Asda supermarket was covered in congealed blood.
Detectives investigated the killing and quickly identified the then 16-year-old as a suspect. Jurors were told the boy had been spotted earlier that day by a police officer possibly dealing drugs in the area on his bicycle.
Detectives found that soon after the stabbing the boy had taken a cab to Ruislip Lido, where he may have dumped the weapon used to kill Osman.
Police waited for him in The Fairway, in Ruislip, the day after Osman was stabbed, but when he approached on his bike, he tried to flee, discarding packets of cannabis as he pedalled.
After a struggle with some officers, the boy was arrested.
A search at his house uncovered clothing and trainers that had Osman’s blood on them.
Detective Inspector Jamie Stevenson, of the Met’s Homicide and Major Crime Command, said: “Osman was a young man who was pursued and viciously stabbed to death in the street. It was a needless killing and the devastating effects will be felt by his family forever.”