1 hour ago
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Greig WatsonEast Midlands
Leicestershire Police
Chukwuemeka Ahanonu crashed his car shortly before attacking Nila Patel
A drug dealer who murdered a stranger by stamping on her head in the street after his car overturned near a hospital has been jailed for life.
After crashing his car on 24 June last year, Chukwuemeka Ahanonu punched, kicked and stamped on Nila Patel, 56, near the Leicester Royal Infirmary (LRI).
The 24-year-old, originally from Peckham in south-east London, had denied murder, claiming diminished responsibility, but was found guilty on Monday.
Ahanonu was sentenced to a minimum term of 21 years and six months at Leicester Crown Court on Tuesday.
Footage showed Ahanonu crashing his car before murdering Patel, before he was detained shortly after
The court heard that Ahanonu, of Dover Street in Leicester, had crashed his car minutes before the attack.
Patel, who had been on her way home at the time, suffered serious injuries including a fractured skull and a brain injury. She died in hospital two days later.
During the sentencing hearing, Patel's son and daughter - Jaidan and Danika Patel - read out victim impact statements to the court.
Jaidan said: "Nine months ago today you murdered our mother.
"The pain of losing her in this way is impossible to accept."
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Patel's son and daughter said she "still had so much life ahead of her"
Danika added: "My mum was the most important person in my life.
"Losing her in such a violent and senseless way has shattered my world."
While sentencing Ahanonu, Judge Timothy Spencer KC said: "You murdered a wholly innocent woman. It was shocking, brutal and merciless."
He added: "You were angry, you were looking for a victim. You selected her, in my judgement, because of three things.
"One was her gender, a woman - you would not have attacked a man.
"The second was her build and her height - 5ft 4in tall and of slight build.
Spencer added he was "satisfied" Patel's race was the third factor.
Paul Raudnitz KC, defending, told the court Ahanonu has no memory of his violence that day and was "shocked" when he saw footage of the "awfulness of what he had done".
Raudnitz said: "I'm instructed now in the clearest of clear terms the defendant would like to express through me his sincere apologies."
Judge Spencer told the defendant: "I'm quite satisfied you retain much more memory of this attack than you have ever had the courage to admit."
