Two teenage girls were found guilty today of causing the death of a vicar’s daughter who leapt from a window, but were told that the dead girl's parents have forgiven them.
Kemi Ajose and Hatice Can, then aged 17 and 13, bullied and beat up Rosimeiri Boxall, 19, just before she died in May last year.
The prosecution at the Old Bailey said that she plunged from the third-floor window to escape their abuse.
Ajose, now 19, of Charlton, southeast London, and Can, now 15, were found guilty of Miss Boxall’s manslaughter. The younger girl can be named for the first time today after the judge lifted reporting restrictions.
She and Ajose had blamed each other for telling Miss Boxall to jump when she climbed up to the window after she was attacked.
As Miss Boxall lay dying of multiple injuries, Can picked up her mobile phone and, after throwing it back down, said: "Serves you right, bitch."
Part of the attack on Miss Boxall by Ajose was filmed on a mobile phone by a neighbour and played to the jury. The sound of slaps and punches echoed around the courtroom. Her hair was pulled and hairspray was aimed at her face.
Can was remanded into the care of her local authority. She wept after hearing the verdict and hugged and kissed her mother before walking with her hands covering her face, to the cells with two dock officers.
Her sobs could be heard long after the doors were closed. Her mother buried her head in her hands and started shaking as a solicitor comforted her.
Some of the eight female members of the jury wiped away tears as Judge Peter Thornton told them: "These things are always distressing."
Miss Boxall's adoptive parents, the Rev Simon Boxall and Rachel Boxall, who sat holding hands at the side of the court while the verdicts were read out, said afterwards in a statement that they would continue to pray for Rosimeiri's killers and added: "We want them to know that we forgive them."
The couple added: "That does not mean that what they did ’doesn’t matter’. Of course it does. A life is of such worth that only God can show us its value.
"Nor does it mean that we think this trial need not have taken place. For justice to be seen to be done, it had to happen and those responsible have to face up to the consequences of their choices.
"Forgiveness means that we refuse to be shackled by bitterness and our prayer is that forgiveness will allow the girls to be released from the burden of what they have done, so that they can even now grow into the sort of people that God intended them to be."
Ajose and Miss Boxall had been best friends, but fell out as an argument between Can and Miss Boxall escalated to comments about family backgrounds.
Miss Boxall had gone to stay at Ajose’s new flat in Blackheath, southeast London, which had been given to her under a social services scheme. Ajose also let her former schoolfriend, Donna Honeyman, stay at the flat – and she was followed there by Can, who had run away from home.
Can had pushed Miss Boxall over a wall a year earlier. A fresh dispute broke out when Can felt jealous that a boy had paid attention to Miss Boxall. She spent all night texting the boy in a bid to attract his attention, but became angry when he did not respond.
Fuelled by vodka which she and Ajose drank in the afternoon, the argument turned violent. Can admitted assaulting Miss Boxall, but both girls said they were not there when she fell.
Miss Boxall had been sitting screaming on the stairs but declined a neighbour’s offer to take her home despite "looking scared".
After her arrest, Ajose said that Miss Boxall had asked "Do you want me to jump?" and Can had answered: "Yes."
Roger Smart, for the prosecution, said: "Rosie leapt to her death from the kitchen window of Kemi’s flat to escape from a prolonged period of physical and verbal abuse.
"Immediately before Rosie fell, she was clearly in fear of being hurt physically. This fear caused her to leap out of the window, as a result of which she met her death."
Miss Boxall, whose father ran a community church in Thamesmead, southeast London, had left home the previous year.
She was adopted at the age of three by her missionary parents after being abandoned in an orphanage in Brazil by her alcoholic mother.
After the family returned to England in 2005, Miss Boxall found it difficult to settle in school. She stayed out late, and Mr Boxall and his wife Rachel told her they would not put up with her refusing to live by their rules.
She was said to have gone to stay with a boyfriend, but when a romance went sour soon afterwards she made a half-hearted suicide attempt. She told a doctor she had taken three paracetamol tablets and had thought of jumping from a window, but decided against it because it was too high and she was scared.
Neither defendant had any previous convictions, but they had both been cautioned by police. Ajose was cautioned for theft in 2009 and for assaulting a police officer in April 2009. Can was cautioned for criminal damage in April 2008.
The defendants were remanded to December 15 for reports. Ajose was remanded back to the psychiatric hospital where she was being held.
Detective Inspector Bob Meade said outside court: "Bullying is neither normal nor acceptable.
"This case highlights the extent to which victims of bullying may go in order to escape their tormentors – sometimes with tragic consequences. Bullying needs to be taken seriously and I would urge the victims of bullying to please don’t just put up with it."
He urged youngsters to confide in someone they could trust or to contact organisations such as Childline or the NSPCC.
