Man, 20, in court accused of killing girl Scout Jodie
A 20-year-old Croatian man appeared in court yesterday charged with the murder of teenager Jodie Chesney, whose death shocked the nation.
Manuel Petrovic looked calm as he was led into the glass dock at Barkingside Magistrates Court in East London for a three-minute hearing.
Miss Chesney was stabbed in the back as she listened to music with her boyfriend and friends in a park in Harold Hill, East London, on March 1.
The Explorer Scout, 17 – described by her father as a ‘great girl’ – died at the scene.
Petrovic, from East London, was arrested in Leicester on Tuesday and charged in the early hours of yesterday with Miss Chesney’s murder. He was remanded in custody to appear at the Old Bailey tomorrow.
A second man was last night still being questioned by detectives. Petrovic appeared in the dock dressed in a grey prison-issue tracksuit. He spoke only to confirm his birth date, nationality and address. Told to sit, he glanced at reporters in the crowded public gallery.
Crown prosecutor Varinder Hayre said: ‘Mr Petrovic is charged with an offence of murder of the victim Jodie Chesney.’
Magistrate Nigel Bower told Petrovic: ‘You are remanded in custody and are going to the Central Criminal Court on Monday. You may go.’ Mr Petrovic nodded and said, ‘Thank you’, before he was led back to the cells.
A post-mortem gave the cause of Miss Chesney’s death as trauma and haemorrhage.
Meanwhile, a teenager was fighting for his life in hospital last night after being stabbed in the chest in a horrific attack on a bus.
Terrified passengers fled after the victim, 19, was knifed on the top deck as the bus travelled through Muswell Hill, North London, shortly after 4.40pm.
A woman who knows the victim and who went to the scene said: ‘He was going in and out of consciousness. He was in a massive pool of blood. A witness said he had caught the eye of someone else on the bus, who was maybe 15, who suddenly got up and said, “What you looking at?”.
‘He said, “I’m just sitting on the bus”, and the guy pulled out a knife as big as his forearm and stabbed him, then ran off.’
In a separate incident last night, an 18-year-old was stabbed in Edgware Road, West London. His injuries were not life-threatening.
Stabbed as she listened to music with friends