mawspurs
04-02-2010, 07:40 PM
Source: BBC
A man has been found guilty by a jury at the Old Bailey of killing the half-brother of Tottenham and England striker Jermain Defoe.
Father-of-three Jade Defoe, a 26-year-old rapper, was punched to the ground in Newham, east London, last April, the jury was told.
Mr Defoe, known by his middle name Gavin, died four days later.
Christopher Farley, 34, of Kingswood Road, Leytonstone, east London, was convicted of manslaughter.
Hospital 'failings'
Mr Defoe fractured his skull and sustained fatal brain damage when he fell to the pavement from a punch thrown by Farley.
Farley later admitted to police he had a "bad temper".
He was overheard by a prison officer during a telephone conversation saying: "I did it - just one of those things."
Jermain Defoe, who was five months younger, rushed to his bedside from training with Tottenham Hotspur after learning he was unlikely to survive.
Farley will be sentenced on Friday.
The court heard he had a criminal record dating back to 1988, with offences including burglary, assaulting a police officer, possessing class B drugs and having a CS gas canister.
A note was handed to Judge Stephen Kramer in which the jurors said they believed the "horror and regret" at what he had done as expressed by Farley in a police interview was "sincere".
It also said: "The verdict on Christopher Farley should not mask the culpability of Whipps Cross intensive care unit."
Survival rate
During the trial, Farley's lawyer Imran Khan said that while he admitted throwing the punch which landed Mr Defoe in hospital, it had been failings in his hospital treatment that had caused his death.
Mr Khan told jurors the injuries caused by Farley would normally have a 96.5% to 99% survival rate.
He said a "second significant injury" was caused by his hospital treatment which "dwarfed" what had happened to him before.
But Brian Altman QC, prosecuting, said while there may have been "shortcomings", such as a delay in transferring Mr Defoe to a specialist unit, these were not so bad as to render what Farley did to put him in hospital "irrelevant".
A man has been found guilty by a jury at the Old Bailey of killing the half-brother of Tottenham and England striker Jermain Defoe.
Father-of-three Jade Defoe, a 26-year-old rapper, was punched to the ground in Newham, east London, last April, the jury was told.
Mr Defoe, known by his middle name Gavin, died four days later.
Christopher Farley, 34, of Kingswood Road, Leytonstone, east London, was convicted of manslaughter.
Hospital 'failings'
Mr Defoe fractured his skull and sustained fatal brain damage when he fell to the pavement from a punch thrown by Farley.
Farley later admitted to police he had a "bad temper".
He was overheard by a prison officer during a telephone conversation saying: "I did it - just one of those things."
Jermain Defoe, who was five months younger, rushed to his bedside from training with Tottenham Hotspur after learning he was unlikely to survive.
Farley will be sentenced on Friday.
The court heard he had a criminal record dating back to 1988, with offences including burglary, assaulting a police officer, possessing class B drugs and having a CS gas canister.
A note was handed to Judge Stephen Kramer in which the jurors said they believed the "horror and regret" at what he had done as expressed by Farley in a police interview was "sincere".
It also said: "The verdict on Christopher Farley should not mask the culpability of Whipps Cross intensive care unit."
Survival rate
During the trial, Farley's lawyer Imran Khan said that while he admitted throwing the punch which landed Mr Defoe in hospital, it had been failings in his hospital treatment that had caused his death.
Mr Khan told jurors the injuries caused by Farley would normally have a 96.5% to 99% survival rate.
He said a "second significant injury" was caused by his hospital treatment which "dwarfed" what had happened to him before.
But Brian Altman QC, prosecuting, said while there may have been "shortcomings", such as a delay in transferring Mr Defoe to a specialist unit, these were not so bad as to render what Farley did to put him in hospital "irrelevant".