Three men jailed for life over knife murder of unarmed father in north London

Three men received life sentences at Southwark Crown Court for the stabbing murder of Gregory Catillo Volquez on a Haringey estate in January 2024.

Life terms handed down for brutal knife attack on unarmed father in Haringey car park

Three young men have been sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of an unarmed father on a north London estate, bbc.com reports. Benito Ramirez Kones, 20, Carlos Akum Metumbe, 22, and Luiggi Perelli Santana, 22, used an "arsenal of knives" and a hospital crutch to stab and beat Gregory Catillo Volquez to death in a car park on the Tiverton Estate in Haringey on 13 January last year.

The attack took place out of sight of CCTV cameras. Volquez, who had spent the evening at south London clubs with a friend before travelling north to Haringey, sustained 22 "sharp force injuries". Evidence presented to the court also showed he had been stamped on and kicked in the face by more than one attacker.

Southwark Crown Court heard sobs from the public gallery as the sentences were delivered. Santana and Kones each received a minimum term of 23 years, while Metumbe was ordered to serve at least 22 years before being eligible for parole.

The sentencing judge did not spare his words. "This was a truly wicked crime committed by very dangerous men," he said. "In my judgment, none of you have shown any real remorse for what you did." He added that "the violence inflicted on Mr Volquez in the car park was grossly disproportionate to any threat he could have posed."

Four knives — including a machete and a so-called 'Rambo' knife — were later recovered from two flats on the estate. The court was told that following the killing, Metumbe and Santana fled the United Kingdom to Spain and were subsequently extradited. Kones was arrested in Swansea.

All three defendants had prior criminal records. At the time of the attack, Kones was serving a suspended sentence for possession of a locking knife, an offence dating to October 2024. Santana was on court bail after failing to appear at a November 2024 hearing relating to a charge of carrying a "machete with tape around the handle" in his trousers — a weapon described as similar to one used in the murder itself. The court heard that two of the three defendants together carried a string of previous convictions, including possession of a bladed article in a public place.

Source: Google News IE — Crime (en)