A couple who have lost three sons to separate killings said they had got justice for the first time after three men were sentenced for a total of 58 years for their roles in the fatal stabbing of David Bello-Monerville.
John and Linda Burke-Monerville were in court on Tuesday for the sentencing of the three men involved in the murder of their son David, who was killed in north London in June 2019. Nathan Harewood, 29, was sentenced to 31 years for his murder. Khalil Rehman, 27, and Francis Appiageyi, 28, were found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to 13-and-a-half years each. All three were found guilty of aggravated burglary and unlawful wounding of David’s brother Taiye, 35.
Bello-Monerville was the third of John and Linda’s children to be killed in separate incidents. Joseph Burke-Monerville, 19, was shot in 2013 in a case of mistaken identity. The couple’s eldest child, Trevor Monerville, was stabbed to death in 1994 aged 26. No one has been convicted of either killing.
Linda was so overjoyed after the men’s sentences were announced that she called out to the judge, Wendy Joseph QC: “Merry Christmas and a happy new year.”
She said that the family would now redouble its efforts to gain justice for their other two sons’ killings.
Bello-Monerville, 38, had been at his home with his brother, Jonathan, 26, in East Barnet on the evening of 18 June 2019. Harewood, Rehman and Appiageyi travelled to the area, armed with two knives and a hammer, planning to rob him. When the two brothers left the flat to buy something from a shop the three men ransacked Bello-Monerville’s flat.
In her sentencing remarks the judge said Bello-Monerville had three jobs including one as a barber but had fallen into debt and had begun to deal cannabis at his home. This news had reached the three men. There was at least £7,000 of cannabis and nearly £1,500 cash at Bello-Monerville’s home on the night of his murder.
Police were called and Jonathan called another brother, Taiye, who was living nearby, to come and help.
As David and his brothers waited outside for the police the three men ran out of the flat, intending to flee the scene. The brothers managed to restrain Rehman who called out for help from Harewood and Appiageyi. Harewood then stabbed David five times in the back. He died later in hospital.
John and Linda Burke-Monerville previously told the Guardian the loss of three of their seven children felt like “a terrible dream” and described their emotions as a “multiplicity of grief”.
In February 2013, Joseph was killed as he sat in a car in Hackney, east London, with his twin, Jonathan, and older brother David. Jonathan and David were injured in the shooting. A trial of three men suspected of his murder collapsed in 2015. A coroner ruled that Joseph had been unlawfully killed.
After sentencing, Linda Burke-Monerville said: “Justice has been done for one of my sons … Our family has found new faith in the police. The police need to fish the killers of our other two sons in now. Those killers are living ghosts. They will never know peace until justice is done. Those two killings cannot go unpunished. Their consciences will be pricking them. They cannot hide forever.”
In a statement read out in court earlier she said: “My son was a hard working man, he was a wonderful human being and a wonderful son. He looked after us all. I am truly broken. A mother cannot bury her son. During the trial David should have celebrated his fortieth birthday. It should have been a joyous occasion. My heart was ripped out just like that.”
