Four members of a gang that left a 27-year-old man with more than 80 injuries in a machete attack have been convicted of murder.<\/p>\n
Christopher Lemonius died after being attacked by a gang that was also armed with golf clubs, in Blackbird Leys, Oxford, on 1 June last year.<\/p>\n
One other man was found guilty of manslaughter, and a jury at Oxford Crown Court cleared another of murder.<\/p>\n
Four other people were found guilty of perverting the course of justice.<\/p>\n
During the trial, the court heard Mr Lemonius was attacked in Jourdain Road after a confrontation between two groups outside the Premier Store in Blackbird Leys at about 23:00 BST.<\/p>\n
Mr Lemonius was chased through Blackbird Leys Park to a property in Jourdain Road.<\/p>\n
There the gang used golf clubs, pieces of wood and machetes to attack him, the court heard.<\/p>\n
One eyewitness said he saw the victim “hanging on to the door” as he was pulled into the garden and dragged into the alley and beaten.<\/p>\n
The witness also said he saw a man with a machete with blood on it “from the top to halfway”.<\/p>\n
Another told the court they heard fighting, along with shouts of “let’s finish him off”.<\/p>\n
The jury was told a severed finger belonging to Mr Lemonius was later found in the garden by police.<\/p>\n
At the trial, the court heard that during the attack a car was driven at Mr Lemonius by Yousef Koudoua, but the jury found him not guilty of murder.<\/p>\n
Mr Koudoua was in tears as it was read out and he mouthed “Thank you” to the jury, as cheers came from the public gallery.<\/p>\n
Sentencing of the nine convicted is due to take place on 12 October.<\/p>\n
Source: bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"