Cyclist murdered driver in knife attack after BMW dragged bike along road

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A cyclist has been found guilty of fatally stabbing a BMW driver who knocked over his bike and dragged it along the road.

Ahmed Chakile Gonladieu, 25, allegedly attacked Alexandros Josephs, 29, through his open car window on 10 May.

Mortally wounded, the victim drove a short distance down the road and crashed into a line of parked cars, the Old Bailey was told.

The attacker ran off and Mr Josephs was pronounced dead at the scene in Ladywell, southeast London, at 2.38pm, jurors heard.

In his defence, Gonladieu claimed that Mr Josephs’ passenger reached for a knife.

The defendant claimed he grabbed the blade and stabbed the driver in preventative self-defence because Mr Josephs had a gun.

The court was told Gonladieu, of Railway Terrace, Ladywell, initially said nothing and then claimed he had simply run away.

He changed his story only after blood belonging to the victim was found on his trousers.

On Friday, a jury at the Old Bailey rejected Gonladieu’s version of events and found him guilty of murder and having a bladed article.

Mr Josephs’ family burst into tears as the verdicts were delivered after eight hours and 13 minutes of jury deliberations.

Adjourning sentence until Tuesday, Judge Anuja Dhir KC said: “I hope the end of this trial and the sentence next Tuesday is able to provide the family of Mr Joseph some comfort.”

Previously, prosecutor Jacob Hallam KC told how Mr Josephs’ grey BMW was caught on CCTV travelling south down a dead-end road in Ladywell, southeast London, at 1.48pm on the day of the murder.

He said: “About seven minutes later, at 1.55pm, the vehicle was captured driving north at speed before crashing into a line of parked cars.

“Inside it, Mr Josephs was dying. He had been stabbed deeply into his body, the wound cutting into his liver and his aorta – one of our body’s most important blood vessels.”

A witness had seen Mr Josephs talking to a man on a mountain bike through the open window of the grey BMW on Malyons Road.

After a minute, the witness heard the sound of metal scraping the ground and looked out to see the car had moved, dragging the bike along the road, Mr Hallam said.

The cyclist, who was wearing dark clothes, was then seen to remove a large knife from a sheath and made a stabbing motion through the car window, jurors were told.

The car moved out of view before the witness heard a bang and went outside to see the alleged knife attacker running away.

The court heard that as he fled into a park, he resheathed the knife.

Mr Josephs’ passenger got out of the car and shouted for help, jurors were told.

A post-mortem examination found Mr Josephs died from a stab wound to his front right side, which had been nearest to the car door.