Teen jailed for "heinous" attack on postman
10:50am Thursday 9th October 2008
By Charlie Stong »
AN 18-YEAR-OLD man from Tottenham has been sentenced to almost four years imprisonment following a violent robbery during which he stabbed his victim.
Howard Soko, of Willoughby Lane, appeared at Wood Green Crown Court last Wednesday where he pleaded guilty to attempted robbery.
In the early hours of the morning on August 22 this year, Soko came out of an alleyway off Southfield Road, Enfield and attempted to grab property from his unsuspecting victim.
The victim, a 53-year-old postman who was on his way to work at the time, struggled with the suspect, but Soko produced a small kitchen knife which he used to stab the victim before fleeing the scene. The postman was stabbed in his left lung and has since made a full recovery.
During the struggle the victim managed to remove a facemask which was worn by Soko. Officers at the scene retrieved the facemask and the forensics team was able to recover DNA, which led to detectives from Enfield’s burglary and robbery squad arresting Soko five days after the attack.
During his interview Soko fully admitted to detectives that he had been responsible for the robbery. He was convicted of attempted robbery and wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm Detective Inspector Steve Fraser, from the Enfield burglary and robbery squad, said: “This was a heinous crime and the sentence reflects the seriousness of the offence the suspect has committed.
“Soko was remorseful, but the victim could quite possibly have received life threatening injuries.”
