A teenager who murdered a 15-year-old boy on a bus over a “trivial” Snapchat row has been locked up for at least 16 years.
Baptista Adjei was killed following a “school beef chat” in front of a group of 32 youngsters on social media.
Following a trial at the Old Bailey, 16-year-old Marvin Dyer was convicted of murder and wounding.
A second defendant, also aged 16, was found not guilty over his involvement in the incident.
Dyer was handed a life sentence, with a minimum term of 16 years.
Judge John Hillen told him: “You were just six weeks older than him.
“You have your life, you took Baptista’s away, leaving what his family describe as a massive void in their lives.”
He described Baptista as a “popular boy, much loved and who showed promise at school and in sport”.
He went on: “You have not only taken a life but blighted the lives of many others who knew and loved Baptista.”
The Old Bailey was previously told that one of the youths alerted the other after spotting Baptista and his friends on a bus to Stratford, east London, in the afternoon of October 10 last year.
Dyer, wearing a blue latex glove and carrying a “vicious looking” hunting knife, boarded when the bus pulled up.
The fatally injured teenager managed to get off the bus and run away but collapsed to the ground near a McDonald’s restaurant.
Another boy survived being stabbed in the arm and leg, the court heard.
He would later tell police that the attack came after some inter-school banter on social media platform Snapchat a couple of weeks earlier.
He said the “school beef chat” had started out in fun ahead of a football match.
One of the defendants had sent Baptista a message saying: “If you’ve got no bodies on your blade, leave the group chat.”
Baptista allegedly replied: “Shut up. You’ll be the first.”
Prosecutor Deanna Heer said it was a “shocking case” and “almost unthinkable” that the defendant could have armed himself over “something so trivial”.
She told jurors: “This was not a spontaneous attack. The evidence shows he had a knife with him and a balaclava to cover his face and at least one latex glove to handle the knife.”
