Man guilty of boxer's murder

A man has been found guilty of murdering former boxing champion James Oyebola after he asked a group of men to stop smoking. Mr Oyebola, 46, was shot through the back of the neck three weeks after the ban on lighting up in public places came into force in July last year. Kanyanta Mulenga, 23, gunned him down with a converted replica Baikal automatic pistol in the Chateau 6 bar in Fulham Broadway, west London. Mr Oyebola, a former British heavyweight title holder who won a bronze medal in the 1986 Commonwealth Games, was enjoying a quiet drink when trouble erupted. Many of the 50 partygoers inside the bar were left diving for cover, then rushing for the exit, as Mulenga fired off four shots, one going into the roof and two hitting Mr Oyebola. He was shot first in the leg and then in the neck and died four days later in hospital, never regaining consciousness, the Old Bailey heard. Jeremy Donne QC, prosecuting, told the jury: "The reason for the killing was particularly senseless. James Oyebola had become involved in a dispute over smoking inside the club." Mr Oyebola, a father of three, had been asking people in a "perfectly pleasant way" to put their cigarettes out in the garden area of the bar, which counted as enclosed premises because it had a retracting roof. A witness described how 6ft 9ins Mr Oyebola was jostled by three men. "He thought it looked like a giant against kids," said Mr Donne. Mulenga, of Putney, south west London, now faces a life sentence after being found guilty of murder. Rene McKoy, 20, of Battersea, south London, and Dean Francis, 24, of Wandsworth, south London, who were in the bar with Mulenga, were cleared of murder after agreeing to give evidence for the prosecution. A fourth man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, will face a separate trial.

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ITN | October 8, 2008

Tags:. .south. .july. .james. .area. .public