Tyler Hurley was stabbed to death on a bus in east London
(Picture: Met Police)A 16-year-old boy was murdered “in cold blood” on a bus home from school in a “revenge” attack after he posted a drill music track online, a court has been told.
Tyler Hurley was allegedly stabbed by Carlton Tanueh, 19, with a so-called zombie knife with a foot-and-a-half (50cm) blade, on the 173 service - just 20 minutes after the Year 11 pupil left The Warren School, Chadwell Heath, east London.
CCTV footage played at Southwark Crown Court on Thursday captured the alleged attack in front of passengers, including parents with prams, on the afternoon of March 14 this year.
Prosecutor Caroline Carberry KC told jurors the “fear on his face is obvious” as “unarmed and totally vulnerable” Tyler, who was wearing his school uniform, suffered “unsurvivable” injuries.
He was taken to hospital but died in the early hours of the following day.
Tyler had three weeks earlier “caused upset to some very dangerous young men” by uploading a drill music track to YouTube, the court heard.
Ms Carberry said the lyrics mocked, “in pretty vile terms”, Tanueh’s associates, in particular one member of the group who was stabbed, though not fatally.
And, following an unsuccessful armed attack just over two weeks before the fatal stabbing, Tyler “taunted the group” after he managed to escape unhurt, she told jurors.
“He was murdered, the prosecution say, in cold blood, intentionally and without emotion by this defendant,” she said.
“This defendant’s behaviour was an act of rage and, as you will hear, revenge, and Tyler Hurley’s young life was deliberately - brutally - cut short because of petty grievances, because this defendant chose to arm himself with a deadly knife and because he chose to attack Tyler Hurley with it in the middle of a Monday afternoon as he made his way home from school.”
Tanueh, who was “out of his own area” and “looking for trouble”, armed himself with two zombie knives, with the alleged murder weapon measuring 2ft 2in (68cm) with a 1ft 6in (50cm) blade, the court heard.
The prosecutor said he thrust the knife twice at Tyler’s body, inflicting a fatal wound through his arm and armpit, penetrating more than nine inches (24cm) into his chest.
Tanueh, of no fixed address, denies murder but admits two counts of having a knife in a public place, the jury was told.
The trial continues.
