A 23-year-old drug dealer stamped a woman getting off a bus in Leicester city centre to death while high on cannabis.
Chukwuemeka Ahanonu, from Leicester, is accused of killing Nila Patel, 56, after crashing his car near Leicester Royal Infirmary on June 24 last year and launching a brutal assault in broad daylight.
Opening the case at Leicester Crown Court on Monday, prosecutor Mary Prior KC told jurors that Ms Patel, a mother who stood 5ft 4in tall, was attacked without warning as she walked home after getting off a bus in Leicester city centre.
“She was viciously attacked by this defendant,” Ms Prior said. “He was a complete stranger to her. She was walking along the road, talking on the telephone to a dear friend, when she was pulled from behind.”
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The court heard that Ahanonu punched Ms Patel in the face with such force that she fell to the pavement. He then kicked and stamped on her as she lay defenceless on the ground, repeatedly stamping on her face.
Ms Patel was rushed to hospital with severe brain and facial injuries but died two days later despite what the prosecutor described as “valiant attempts” by paramedics and doctors to save her life.
“The defendant killed Nila Patel by punching her, by kicking her and by stamping on her,” Ms Prior said. “She did nothing to cause the attack and could not defend herself.”
Ahanonu denies murder but has pleaded guilty to manslaughter, claiming diminished responsibility.
Jurors were told that at the time of the killing, Ahanonu was running what the prosecution described as a “significant” drugs operation while claiming Universal Credit. The court heard that his drug-dealing business funded his flat, a BMW car, his living expenses and his regular use of cannabis.
According to the prosecution, Ahanonu earned as much as £10,000 a month supplying cannabis to more than 250 customers. Ms Prior said he even used special packaging designed to prevent the smell of cannabis so he could post drugs to buyers.
“That is a significant business and he ran it successfully,” she told the court.
The jury heard that shortly before the attack, Ahanonu had smoked large amounts of cannabis and had been driving dangerously through Leicester before crashing his car, which overturned. He was not injured in the crash.
After getting out of the vehicle, he ran along the middle of the road towards Ms Patel and attacked her, the court was told. Part of the assault was captured on the body-worn camera of a security guard from Leicester Royal Infirmary who had gone to assist at the crash scene. The final moments of the attack were filmed by a member of the public on a mobile phone.
Ms Prior said the defence was expected to argue that Ahanonu was developing schizophrenia at the time of the killing.
However, she told jurors that voluntary intoxication was not a defence to murder. “The voluntary consumption of a substance which causes you to act in a way that you would not act when sober is not a defence,” she said. “An intoxicated intent is still an intent.”
The trial, expected to last up to a month, continues.
