A man has been found guilty of killing a teenage phone snatcher who crashed a stolen moped into a lamppost after suffering fatal knife wounds.
Francie McCarthy, 22, claimed he acted in self defence when he stabbed 16-year-old Deonte Mowatt-Slater in Islington, north London, in the early hours of October 22 last year.
An Old Bailey jury deliberated for an hour an a half to find McCarthy, from Islington, guilty of manslaughter, having cleared him of murder.
The court heard how the teenager had crashed his moped moments after he was stabbed in the neck and chest.
Paramedics only realised he had been attacked – and was not the victim of a road traffic crash – after they uncovered his injuries.
Jurors were told Deonte probably passed out before he collided with a lamppost as he attempted to ride away from his killer.
Prosecutor Edward Brown KC had told jurors: “The police and ambulance services were called to what was immediately thought to be a road traffic collision involving a youth on a moped who had, it was then believed, driven into a lamppost.
“Deonte had plainly been very badly injured – somehow.
“He was in a grave condition with very few signs of life.”
It later transpired the teenager had been stabbed twice, to the front of the neck and the chest, and despite efforts of medics, he could not be saved and died at the scene at 1.16am.
The prosecution had asserted that Deonte was stabbed after getting into an argument with McCarthy after their paths crossed in Courtauld Road.
However, giving evidence, McCarthy claimed he thought he was going to be robbed by the teenager.
McCarthy claimed the teenager became injured when he waved a knife around in self defence and Deonte rode into him on the moped.
The court heard Deonte had been convicted of stealing a bicycle in August 2022 and was caught in January 2023 snatching mobile phones while riding a bike.
At the time of his death, he was riding a stolen moped with false plates.
The court heard McCarthy had previous convictions for drugs, assault and possessing offensive weapons.
McCarthy, from Islington, was remanded into custody to be sentenced on October 30.
