A delivery driver has been found guilty of murdering his wife and covering it up by setting fire to their home and blaming their teenage son for re-enacting a scene from a Netflix thriller.
Amidu Koroma, 48, had denied being responsible for the death of 46-year-old community nurse Mariam Kamara, casting suspicion on his innocent 19-year-old son Ishmael.
It was claimed the teenager was troubled and had killed his mother while re-creating a scene from the thriller You.
In season three of the show, the main character kills his wife and then sets fire to their home to cover up the scene and fake his own death.
Jurors heard Koroma had a “toxic” relationship with Ms Kamara and she feared he was going to kill her, after a series of rows over money and his refusal to leave the house.
Koroma, who had a child with another woman, was found guilty of her murder following a trial at the Old Bailey.
Prosecutor Zoe Johnson KC had told how a fire broke out in an upstairs bedroom of the family home in Railton Road, Brixton, south London, in the early hours of January 24, 2022.
After getting out of the building with his father, Ishmael Koroma called the emergency services, with the fire brigade arriving at 4.12am.
As flames and smoke gushed from a first-floor window, the defendant calmly told emergency workers that his wife was trapped inside, the court heard.
Ms Kamara’s badly burnt body was later found lying on her bed surrounded by the distinctive smell of accelerant.
Amidu Koroma tried to blame his teenage son for the murder— (Met Police)
An empty jerry can and funnel were discarded on the ground floor and the victim’s blood was identified on bannisters near the bottom of the stairs.
A post-mortem examination concluded Ms Kamara had died from stab wounds to the neck and chest before the fire started.
The defendant denied going into the blazing bedroom yet had sustained a burn to his foot from close proximity to the flames.
An analysis of his clothes revealed heat damage caused by exposure to flames, jurors were told.
A kitchen knife stored in a block was examined and found to have Ms Kamara’s blood on it.
Ms Johnson said there were only two possible candidates who could have been responsible for Ms Kamara’s death as there was no evidence anyone had forced entry to the home, stabbed her and staged a fire before leaving unnoticed.
She said: “This defendant denies that he is responsible for the murder but the background evidence and the scientific evidence all point to his sole involvement in Mariam’s death.
“Whereas the defendant had a burn to his foot, singed hairs in his beard, flash burning to his jogging bottoms and sweatshirt, there is no scientific evidence to suggest that Ishmael did anything other than sleep in his bedroom that night until his father woke him up to get out of the house.”
He was found guilty of murder following a trial at Old Bailey— (PA Archive)
In a police interview, Koroma said he had been asleep on the sofa and was woken by the smoke alarm at 3am.
He claimed he ran upstairs, noticed “black smoke everywhere” and shouted at Ms Kamara to get out but did not try to go inside her bedroom due to the “big flame”.
During the trial, he changed his account saying Ishmael had woken him up downstairs and he had wanted to protect him.
Under cross-examination, accountancy student Ishmael denied being unstable and killing his mother after having a bad parents’ evening.
The court heard his parents’ relationship had all but ended and Koroma had left the family home to live with another woman several times only to return pleading for forgiveness.
There were frequent rows over money and Ms Kamara only stayed for the sake of her son, who was about to go to university, the court was told.
Ms Johnson said: “Unbeknown to her son, Mariam had set up some very generous life insurance policies for his benefit.
“Mariam was known as a very kind and charitable woman who was always looking out for others in need.”
Ms Kamara had been planning a trip to Sierra Leone where she was building a house and had formed a close relationship with another man.
She told a friend she feared Koroma would kill her and he had refused to leave the house.
Ms Johnson told jurors: “The scientific evidence, the evidence of the poor state of the marriage, the defendant’s threats to kill Mariam and the defendant’s inconsistent accounts of his behaviour that night all point conclusively to the defendant stabbing his wife to death.”
Koroma will be sentenced on Monday.
