Members of a drunken teenage girl gang who launched an unprovoked street attack which left their frail victim dead have been locked up for a total of nine years.
The girls, aged 14, 16 and 17 at the time, hounded vulnerable Fredi Rivero as he walked home late on February 27 this year.
The girls pushed and kicked at the 75-year-old former hotel worker and took his glasses, despite his repeated requests for them to leave him alone.
Buddhist Mr Rivero even made the peace sign in an attempt to get them to calm down, and asked: ‘Girls, what’s the problem?’
But they were unrelenting. The older girl threw a punch which felled the Bolivian national, who collapsed on the floor in a pool of blood.
He died in hospital the next day.
The whole ordeal, which took place near a bus stop in Islington, north London, was filmed on one of the girls’ mobile phones, in which they could be heard screaming abuse and laughing at the victim.
Her Honour Judge Judy Khan KC said the girls ‘all had unusually traumatic upbringings’.
She sentenced the oldest girl to four years’ detention, the next oldest to three-and-a-half years’ detention, and the youngest girl to two-and-a-half years’ detention at the Old Bailey today after they all admitted manslaughter.
The girls, aged 14, 16 and 17 at the time, hounded vulnerable Fredi Rivero as he walked home late on February 27 this year
CCTV footage shows the teenage girls pushing, shoving, and kicking Fredi Rivero by a bus stop in Islington, north London
The girls pushed and kicked at the 75-year-old former hotel worker and took his glasses, despite his repeated requests for them to leave him alone
They cannot be identified because of their age.
It came after Mr Rivero’s grief-striken family hit out at the trio, and asked: ‘What type of generation is being raised?’
Mr Rivero’s daughter said she would never forgive the trio, and asked questions about why the girls – who are said to have drunk half a bottle of vodka between them before the attack – would have resorted to violence.
The woman, who asked not to be named and gave her evidence from behind a screen so as not to be seen by the defendants, said in a victim impact statement: ‘They assaulted my dad at 11.30pm. My question – how can girls their age be out at that time? What is conjucing them to violence?
‘What type of generation is being raised as a result of all of this?
‘We should be living in a society where we can have a conversation and even disagree without resorting to violence.
Mr Rivero, who is originally from Bolivia, spent many years working in a hotel in Mayfair and was described as ‘the nicest person’, who would not hurt anyone
The oldest girl was also seen to punch the victim in the head, causing him to fall backwards onto the pavement
‘I will never forgive these three offenders for cruelly and maliciously killing my dad.
‘He was an ill, elderly person who would never hurt anyone. His death makes the crime irreversible.’
The daughter said her father had several bouts of ill-health and was being treated for cancer.
She said he was ‘a kind-hearted gentleman’, who loved chess, animals, gardening and music such as Queen.
She said: ‘(He was) the nicest person you could ever meet, who would never bother anyone. He lived a devout family life, he worked his entire life and minded his own business.
‘All my dad wanted to do was go home, and begged the offenders to leave him alone. His instant reaction was to make the sign of peace.’
The court heard the girls fled the scene before being picked up by police at different locations nearby.
The middle girl attempted to point the blame at Mr Rivero, telling police: ‘I’ll be so real, that’s his fault, he started on us, (the eldest girl) pushed him, and he lost his balance and he fell.’
Mr Rivero was described in court as being the victim of the unprovoked attack by the three girls
The girl, who has previous convictions for assault, added: ‘My new year’s resolution was not to get arrested this year, it’s already done, it’s not even f****** March.’
The younger girl – sister to the middle girl – then told police as she was arrested: ‘It wasn’t me. I promise I know who it was, it was my sister’s friend.’
The eldest girl, who threw the punch that floored Mr Rivero, had put her clothes in the washing machine by the time she was arrested.
She told an officer: ‘I was just helping my friends, he was pushing me, and I punched him, is he alive?’
Prosecutor Louise Oakley said former Mayfair hotel worker Mr Rivero was an innocent victim who did nothing to provoke the attack.
She said: ‘He was not the aggressor, he did not start the incident, we submit he didn’t do anything inappropriate.
‘He is continually trying to get away from them, and they continue to follow him.’
She added: ‘He was an elderly man, on his own, who simply wanted to get home.
‘The violence and humiliation they inflicted on him was gratuitous.’
Videos later seized from the girls’ mobiles showed violence against other members of the public previously.
Detective Inspector Devan Taylor, who led the Met’s investigation, said: ‘This was a completely unprovoked attack by three teenage girls, on an elderly man who was just going about his day.
‘The fact they filmed the attack and found it funny is even more sickening.’
