Three teenage girls who killed a 75-year-old pensioner at a bus stop in an attack filmed on a mobile phone for entertainment have admitted manslaughter.
The girls, aged 14, 16 and 17, tormented Fredi Rivero by snatching his glasses from his face before kicking and punching the “bewildered” pensioner.
Mr Rivero begged them to stop the unprovoked attack on Seven Sisters Road, Holloway on February 27, pleading that he just wanted to go home.
The whole incident was captured on CCTV as well as being filmed by one of the girls, in the latest of a series of attacks they had carried out on vulnerable and homeless people.
Mr Rivero fell and cracked his head on the pavement after a punch from the eldest teenager, and he died in hospital the following day.
At the Old Bailey on Thursday, the girls all appeared on videolink from custody to plead guilty to manslaughter.
It can now be revealed that detectives found a collection of videos, apparently filmed for fun, on one of the teenagers’ phones showing a series of random attacks from the past 18 months.
The court has heard Mr Rivero was at a bus stop chatting to a friend at around 11.30pm before the attack unfolded.
“All three young ladies are charged with manslaughter”, prosecutor Valerie Benjamin told the magistrates court at their first appearance.
She said Mr Rivero’s friend got on to the bus just as the three teenagers go off.
“The victim has his back turned away from the three defendants, and he is seen to wave to the other male”, she said.
“From the footage, all three of them surrounded him and engaged him. It is not clear what was said.
“Then they walked out of sight of the CCTV, returning five minutes later. They pushed and shoved the deceased.”
The court heard the 16-year-old girl kicked Mr Rivero in the leg, then the 17-year-old punched the victim to the face.
“He falls backwards, causing an injury to his head which resulted in his death”, said Ms Benjamin.
“Footage shows the three defendants jointly pushed and shoved the victim, who appeared to be bewildered.
“He didn’t know what was going on, or why.
“He backed away. All three were shouting, and his back was against the shop door. One removed his glasses. The victim tells them he just wants to go home.”
The incident unfolded near to a McDonalds on Holloway Road, and police released images of Mr Rivero in the moments before the attack.
The court has heard the youngest attacker, who is now 15, was convicted in December last year after a victim was surrounded outside a Sainsbury’s and beaten by a group of girls.
The 16-year-old has four convictions, including for assaulting emergency workers and racially aggravated harassment. And Ms Benjamin said her phone “contained 13 videos of the defendants attacking vulnerable people while filming, over an 18-month period, with homeless people targeted”.
Members of Mr Rivero’s family, including his daughter and ex-wife, were in court to hear the guilty pleas.
"Mr Rivero was a much-loved family man who died in a truly tragic incident”, said Met Police Detective Inspector Devan Taylor, from the Specialist Crime unit.
“I know how much his death has impacted those close to him and the wider community.
"I would like to offer my heart-felt sympathy to Mr Rivero’s family for their loss and express my admiration for the dignity they have shown throughout the investigation. I also wish to thank the members of public who went to Mr Rivero’s aid as he lay injured.
"The young defendants have now accepted they were responsible for the killing of Mr Rivero, in what was a senseless and completely out of the blue attack on a lone elderly man.
“The age of the defendants adds to the devastating nature of this incident and they will now have to deal with the enormity of their actions.”
The girls, who were all in care prior to the killing, are set to be sentenced on September 5.
