A Ghanaian student in the UK, identified as Kwabena Osei-Poku has allegedly been murdered by his Nigerian colleague, Melvin Lebaga-Idubor, the Northhampton Crown Court has ruled.
Lebaga-Idubor was convicted of murder and possession of a knife and was sentenced by the same court in January.
The court heard that Kwabena Osei-Poku, 19 and Melvin Lebaga-Idubor, also 19, were both students of Northampton University and also drug peddlers.
Both sold cannabis. In April, the Nigerian and a compatriot, Ogechi Eke, told Kwabena they wanted to buy some drugs from him.
They robbed him of his stash worth £1,000 and warned him to stop selling drugs on their territory.
Kwabena Osei-Poku chased the two in an attempt to retrieve his drugs and that was when Melvin stabbed him twice in the neck.
He was taken to hospital but died. CCTV footage also showed Melvin in the aftermath of the stabbing seeking medical help.
After a 6-week trial, the court found him guilty of murder and possession of a knife but found Eze not guilty of both charges as well as an additional manslaughter charge.
The clothes he was wearing during the killing were then burnt in a metal bin in Huian’s back garden.
A court heard Forbes-Coleman brought him clothes and documents before Lebaga-Idubor was driven to his home in Barking, east London, before boarding the Eurostar.
He arrived in Paris and planned to travel onwards to Nigeria, but he was later persuaded to return to the UK where he was arrested.
Lebaga-Idubor and Eke were charged with murder and possession of an offensive weapon.
Huian and Forbes-Coleman were both charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice.
Lebaga-Idubor was found guilty of murder and possession of a knife after a six-week trial at Northampton Crown Court.
Eke was found not guilty of the same charges and cleared of a further count of manslaughter.
Forbes-Coleman was found not guilty of attempting to pervert the course of justice.
Huian had pleaded guilty to attempting to pervert the course of justice at an earlier hearing.
Lebaga-Idubor and Huian will be sentenced at the same court on a date to be confirmed in January.
