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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
Matt Watts

Pictured: Teenager convicted of north London sword murder after victim named him as killer in dying breath

This is the first picture of a teenager found guilty of murdering a man who named him as his killer in his dying breath.

Sanchez Tate, 18, had stabbed 21-year-old Mohamed Abdi Noor to death after blaming him for knocking over his motorbike in north London.

The defendant denied murder and claimed he had acted in self-defence.

Following a trial at the Old Bailey, a jury found him guilty of the charge on Tuesday.

Mr Abdi Noor had suffered a fatal stab wound to the chest during the incident last December 11 on Tufnell Park Road in Kentish Town, where both men lived.

Tate attacked him with a sword with a 43.5cm blade.

Emergency services were called to the scene as Tate ran off towards his home and was arrested soon after.

Prosecutor Catherine Pattison had said: "Before he lost consciousness, Mr Abdi Noor said 'Sanchez' and repeated it - meaning the name of the person who had stabbed him."

Married motorcycle enthusiast Mr Abdi Noor was taken to hospital where he died early the next morning.

Ms Pattison told jurors: "The level of violence was out of all proportion for what was needed to rob someone.

"It has the hallmarks of targeted, if spontaneous, violence against a known individual, whatever lay behind it."

Tufnell park murder vicitim Mohamed Abdi Noor (met police)

Met Police Detective Chief Inspector Larry Smith said: “Sanchez Tate was carrying a sword with a 43.5cm long blade and made the terrible choice to use it.

“The decision to carry a weapon can, as this case shows, be life changing.”

The court heard that Tate and Mr Abdi Noor knew each other because they lived in the same road but they were not friends.

Mr Abdi Noor had a "passion for pedal cycles and motorbikes" and told his wife after an earlier incident allegedly involving Tate.

Ms Pattison said he had gone to check his motorbike in his estate parking lot and found it on the ground.

He asked some teenagers who had knocked it over and they pointed to Tate.

The prosecutor said: "Mr Abdi Noor told Mr Tate that he needed to pay for the damage - a scratch and some parts were damaged.

"Nothing else appeared to come of it.

"As it happened, Mr Abdi Noor took his motorbike to be repaired.

"The damage to the motorbike was still being repaired on the date Mr Abdi Noor died."

Following the guilty verdict, Judge Mark Dennis KC adjourned sentencing until November 21.

He told the defendant he needed more information about his "plainly rather troubled past".

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