Mother Drove Machete-Wielding Son And Friends To Murder Disabled Teen

A 36-year-old mother has been charged with murder after she allegedly drove her machete-wielding son and three other minors to the scene of an attack that ended up in the death of a disabled teen.

Nicola Leighton's son Tyreese Ulysses, 19, and three of his friends are accused of stabbing Levi Ernest-Morrison, 17, to death at Hazel Grove in South-East London on April 10, reports Evening Standard.

Prosecutor Jonathan Polnay told the court that the teens committed this murder together. "The prosecution case is that this defendant’s mother drove the defendant and three others to a location where the car screeched across the road. This defendant and three others got out, armed with machetes, where they stabbed a young man, Levi Morrison, aged 17, to death," said Polnay. The prosecutor called this "a pre-planned knife attack."

The woman was arrested two weeks after the murder of Levi.

Police were alerted by a passerby who reported a boy lying on the ground with stab wounds around 7:20 p.m. (2:20 p.m. ET) April 10. A video of the incident, wherein a 999 operator was heard advising the passerby to stem his bleeding using a towel, also did the rounds. Though the emergency medics rushed the teen to the hospital, he succumbed to his injuries soon.

A post-mortem examination had given the preliminary cause of death as a stab wound leading to catastrophic bleed.

The victim was autistic and suffered from a drop foot caused by nerve damage. Days after the murder, his bereaved mother had spoken about how Levi, despite his disabilities, helped others.

"My son was autistic and disabled so it hurts more. He has got a foot drop and damaged the side of his leg. He was a special case and he was a very special boy. He was not a loudmouth boy, he wasn’t a nasty boy. He was very well mannered," said the mother, who didn't wish to be named.

She added that her son walked with a crutch, meaning he would have been unable to run from his attacker, which made him "like a target."

She added that Levi always dreamt of owning a home in the Caribbean. "We were looking to move to the Caribbean because our family is from St Lucia. He loved St Lucia and that is where he wanted to be," said his mom.