Sven Badzak's mother on tougher sentences for knife crime

Sven Badzak was brutally murdered in Willesden Lane, Kilburn, on February 6, 2021, after going out to buy orange juice for his mum Jasna.

He was stabbed four times in a "gang-style" attack that appeared to be a case of mistaken identity.

His killers Rashid Gedel, of Fenman Gardens, Ilford, and Shiroh Ambersley of Matthew Close, Wembley, were convicted at the Old Bailey on July 7 of his murder and of grievous bodily harm against Sven’s friend, then 16.

A third youth, Harvey Canavan, 19, pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the first day of the trial. A fourth, Lior Agbayan, 20, fled to the Ivory Coast and has not returned.

Sven's mother Jasna Badzak watched the trial on video link and on August 3 will watch the sentencing from a hospital bed in her living room in Maida Vale.

Haunted by his murder and the injuries he suffered, she is unable to walk and is bedbound having last year lost consciousness, spent 10 weeks in a coma and then suffered a cardiac arrest and later sepsis.

• RELATED: 'I fell apart completely': Grieving mum on anniversary of son's death

She said: "All the grief, all the suffering, I close my eyes and I cannot sleep, all I see is Sven.

"It's horrible and I can't stop thinking of him, especially after seeing the video footage and all of it happening in 20 seconds. The knife went through him with such horrific intensity."

Jasna said while Sven was out he had bumped into friend, who suggested they eat a bagel at a shop in Willesden Lane.

The court had heard that after leaving Waitrose supermarket they were followed by a group apparently on the lookout for other young people on their 'territory' to attack.

Sven was stabbed in the chest and his friend was stabbed in the back but managed to run off pursued by some of the attackers.

In an attack that lasted "no more than 20 seconds", the court heard the knife went through Sven's chest bone, through a protective fluid-filled sac around the heart, through both ventricles, through the heart itself, and through vertebrae the other side.

Sven Badzak was fatally stabbed in Kilburn after running an errand for his mum (Image: Jasna Badzak)

"He didn't even see them. They ran up to his back and did it for fun," said Jasna.

"Then you see them high-fiving. Then they were boasting on Snap Chat, messages about how they are doing their job protecting their territory. They were explaining in the court their drug territory and how nobody should be allowed to go there. 

"How is it even possible that those of us in normal society have allowed that, for some scumbag to control where you, I, anybody, Sven, can go?"

Sven Badzak with former prime minister Boris Johnson during his mayoral campaign in 2008 (Image: Jasna Badzak)

Despite her ill health, Jasna, a former chair of the local Conservative association, said she will "fight to the death" for her campaign Sven's Law, to see mandatory sentences of 20 years for anyone caught simply carrying a knife.

The court was told Gedel had four previous convictions for carrying blades dating back to 2014 and on his arrest in March 2021, a hunting knife was seized from his bedroom wardbrobe.

Ambersley also had a conviction for possession of a blade, two offences of threatening with an offensive weapon in a public place and affray, and possession of drugs.

Asked if Gedel and Ambsersley should receive a minimum of 20 years for Sven's murder, she said: "I'll cross that bridge when it comes, that life means life.

"It's a joke to them. They are laughing and boasting that they killed your child and we have to live with such convicts around us."

All three will be sentenced on August 3 at the Old Bailey.

Police released these two CCTV images of men they would like to speak to in connection with Sven Badzak's murder in Kilburn (Image: Met Police)

Police are still searching for two males who they want to speak to in connection with the murder, following a CCTV appeal in February 2022.

Anyone with information is asked to call 101 or tweet @MetCC quoting CAD 5580/06FEB21. 

Alternatively contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.