Three teenagers who attacked 75-year-old Fredi Rivero in the street in London while filming the incident on a mobile phone have been jailed for a total of nine years
Three teenage girls have been jailed for killing a “particularly vulnerable” 75-year-old man in an “unprovoked” street attack filmed on a mobile phone.
Bolivian national Fredi Rivero was attacked in Islington, north London, on February 27 and died in hospital the next day. The victim was near a bus stop on Seven Sisters Road when the teenagers, who at the time were 14, 16 and 17, got off a bus and surrounded him.
The teens, who are now 15, 17 and 17, pushed, shoved, kicked and punched him, with one of them filming the incident on her phone, the Old Bailey heard. CCTV was played to the court, which showed the girls getting off a bus – one with a bottle of vodka, then during an initial interaction Mr Rivero made a peace sign, they walked away and then went back to him.
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Mobile phone footage was also played to the court which showed one of the girls pulling his glasses off his face, then one punching him and him falling backwards. Louise Oakley, prosecuting, described the attack as “unprovoked violence by three young girls” and added that the victim was “particularly vulnerable by virtue of his age and his ill health.” The prosecution said the oldest girl threw the fatal punch.
Police were called at 11.25pm to reports of the disturbance and found Mr Rivero unconscious on the pavement with a severe head injury and in cardiac arrest. He was taken to the Royal London Hospital and initial investigations revealed he had suffered a traumatic brain injury, Ms Oakley said. Mr Rivero later died.
In a separate case, the 15-year-old girl was sentenced to a referral order for attempted wounding in December last year, the prosecution said. The attempted wounding involved her and other girls assaulting a homeless woman on the street and footage was recorded, Ms Oakley said.
Judge Judy Khan KC said: “You can all be heard shouting at Mr Rivero as he desperately tried to get away from you. He told you more than once that he wanted to go home but you ignored his pleas.”
The judge also said there were several videos of violent incidents found on one of the girl’s phones, adding they were not as serious as the attack on Mr Rivero, but present “a pattern of unacceptable violence”. She said all three girls have been through “extremely traumatic events” during childhood and adolescence. The judge added: “This was a cruel attack on an elderly man who was completely defenceless and you showed him no mercy.”
The daughter of Mr Rivero, Carla Rivero, gave a victim impact statement at the Old Bailey on Friday in which she described him as “kind, polite and gentle”. Ms Rivero said: “It wasn’t my dad’s time to die. His death was forced upon him by three girls. They demonstrated no consideration or respect for an elderly person. He was an ill, elderly person who would never hurt anyone.”
On Friday, the three girls were jailed for a total of nine years after previously pleading guilty to manslaughter. The judge sentenced the oldest girl to four years’ detention, the younger 17-year-old to three-and-a-half years’ detention, and the 15-year-old girl to two-and-a-half years’ detention.
Detective Inspector Devan Taylor, who led the Met’s investigation, said: “This was a completely unprovoked attack by three teenage girls, on an elderly man who was just going about his day. The fact they filmed the attack and found it funny is even more sickening.
“I’d like to thank the members of the public who assisted in our investigation and provided first aid to Fredi. Their witness statements were also crucial in helping us arrest the girls within hours.”