Harper Dennis, 19, was sentenced to 10 years in custody at Leicester Crown Court on Tuesday after a jury found him guilty of manslaughter, having an offensive weapon, and failing to provide the PIN to his phone. The charges stem from the fatal stabbing of 20-year-old Khaleed Oladipo near De Montfort University in Leicester on February 3.
The jury, after a two-week trial, cleared Dennis, of North Road in West Drayton, London, of murder but convicted him on the lesser charge. Prosecutor Jane Osborne KC told the court that Dennis killed Oladipo, whom he had befriended through online gaming, because of a "perceived debt."
Dispute Over Fake Rolex and Scam Money
Dennis claimed he gave Oladipo £6,000 of his savings to make money by scamming people. When he did not receive his money back, Oladipo provided him with a Rolex watch to sell, but Dennis later discovered it was fake. The stabbing occurred on Oxford Street near De Montfort University's Innovation Centre and was captured on dashcam footage.
Judge Timothy Spencer KC told Dennis, who wore a dark suit in the dock, that he had developed a "seething resentment" toward the victim. The judge stated: "You took a knife to the fight, you used it, this was not a one-off thrust of the knife but five separate applications and it should have been obvious to you this carried a high risk of serious harm."
Judge's Remarks on Criminal Background
The judge added: "The background is murky. You and Khaleed were certainly known to each other. You were probably at times pretty friendly. The moral high ground is simply not open to you. You have painted yourself as wronged, but the reality is the financial transactions in this case were all to do with scams."
He continued: "This money was designed to fund criminal activity. The dispute between the two of you was further fuelled by him providing a Rolex watch which you viewed as some part compensation for your losses, that turned out to be fake and that did not assuage your bitterness."
The judge noted that both Dennis and Oladipo had their "lives ahead of you." He remarked: "You were the smaller of the two, much more lightly built, but you were the one with the weapon and it is right to note that on the face of it, he seemed to get the better of you. That was in his desperation to save his life as he knew you had the knife and he was trying to prevent you from using it."
Victim's Family Devastated by Loss
In a victim impact statement read to the court by Ms Osborne, Oladipo's sister Precious Oladipo described their mother's grief: "The loss of a child is brain-altering. He was, in every sense, her light and joy and losing him has hollowed her out. She cries every single day, including at her workplace, the hospital. She mumbles that she sent Khaleed off to university, as she always did after the holidays, and he simply never came home."
She added: "Khaleed will not graduate, he will not see his 21st birthday which he had been so looking forward to. Every future milestone will now be marked by his absence instead of his presence. We are bereft, there is no joy or happiness in our home."
Defense Claims Self-Defense and Remorse
The trial heard that after the attack, Dennis left the scene and gave a bag of clothes to his flatmate. Oladipo was on the phone with his girlfriend at the time and was heard saying, "Why did you come up to me and stab me?" Dennis had also made two calls to Oladipo's girlfriend on Christmas Day last year, calling her boyfriend a "bad guy."
In his evidence, Dennis claimed he feared for his life and acted in self-defence when Oladipo approached him with a knife. He said he was "shocked" when arrested later that evening and did not know he had stabbed Oladipo during the fight. Of the fake Rolex, Dennis told the jury: "I went to Hatton Garden to sell the watch. I went to the jewellery shop. Two jewellers looked at the watch, they examined it and realised it was fake. It made me feel a bit annoyed, bit kind of disappointed in Khaleed that he let me down."
Defending Dennis, who has no previous convictions, Tim Forte KC described the incident as "fleeting, short, unpremeditated, but horrendously tragic." He said Dennis had a "positive" character and showed remorse, adding: "He will come out as someone who can apply his mind and skills to work and training and education."
The judge, however, told Dennis: "You have never assisted this investigation, you have never even tried to shed light fully on what was going on here. Your claims of genuine remorse have a very hollow ring." He added: "I am prepared to accept there is an element of remorse. I think you have matured to the realisation that this was a wholly unnecessary loss of life."
Detective Inspector Lorna Granville, from the East Midlands Special Operations Unit Major Crime Team, said before the verdict: "It's a shocking set of circumstances and quite rightly, and expectedly, creates a huge impact on the student community. This is not deep entrenched criminality. What it appears is two young men with their lives ahead of them have had a falling out and one has reacted, I would say, completely disproportionately and unnecessarily to exact some retribution."
Of Oladipo's family, she said: "They are grieving. They are slowly realising that potentially this was over a silly dispute and they have to live with the loss of that for eternity and they are struggling to come to terms with that."
