…By Lola Smith for TDPel Media.
Marques Walker, a 17-year-old boy, has been sentenced in a landmark televised court hearing for the murder of Jermaine Cools, a 14-year-old boy.
Walker stabbed Jermaine seven times in a “senseless attack of extreme ferocity” with a machete during a fight near West Croydon station in November 2021.
CCTV footage captured the moment Walker pulled out the machete from his coat and repeatedly plunged it into Jermaine’s chest.
Jermaine was the youngest victim to die on London’s streets in 2021 and the 27th fatal victim of knife crime that year.
Jermaine’s mother, Lorraine Dudek, gave a victim impact statement in which she described the effects of her son’s death.
She said the family had to endure a rap song made and posted online by Walker’s fellow gang members, goading and taunting them about Jermaine’s murder.
She also stated that she will never forgive the defendant for taking her baby away from her, robbing her of the opportunity to watch him turn from a boy into a man and ruining their family’s lives‘.
Jermaine’s father, Julius Cools, asked Walker why he did that to his innocent child who never had a problem with anybody.
Fight and Murder
The court heard that a fight had broken out with Jermaine and his brothers on one side and Walker and friends on the other.
Jermaine stumbled but regained his footing only to fall over onto the pavement possibly as a result of another member of Marques Walker’s group pushing him.
Walker then quickly approached Jermaine, who was still on the ground, and stabbed him multiple times in quick succession as Jermaine rolled around the pavement in an attempt to avoid the blows.
Jermaine was rushed to hospital by members of the public but died from the stab wounds inflicted by Walker.
History of Possession of Knives
The court heard that Walker was a ‘county lines’ drug dealer linked to the ‘Shrublands’ gang in south London and was on bail for possession of a knife at the time of the murder.
He had also been convicted of possession of a knife in February 2020, while a year 7 pupil at Meridian High School in Croydon.
He had been caught by the headteacher with a large ‘Rambo’ knife in his rucksack.
In April 2021, Walker dropped a knife in a police chase when he was being monitored in a ‘County Lines’ drug operation.
However, a prosecution for possession of a knife was dropped the following March on the grounds that Walker was a victim of modern slavery.
Other Attacks and Writing Rap Lyrics
The court also heard that while on remand in prison for the murder of Jermaine, Walker had carried out another attack, causing grievous bodily harm to a fellow inmate, which left the victim with severe brain damage.
Walker initiated the attack and was heard shouting “finish him off”.
Afterwards, he stated “that’s what snitches get” and asked a prison officer: “Is he dead?” Walker wrote rap lyrics about the murder of Jermaine while in prison which were discovered by one of the guards.
Sentencing
At the Old Bailey on Tuesday, Judge Sarah Munro KC sentenced Walker to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 18 years for the murder of Jermaine, eight years for the possession of the machete, and six years for causing grievous bodily harm to a fellow inmate.
The sentences are to run concurrently.
Judge Munro KC agreed that Walker could be named despite being under the age of 18 and ruled that her sentencing remarks could be filmed and broadcast as a “deterrent to others”. This is