A man has been found guilty of fatally stabbing another man in the neck during a fight in broad daylight in a Stratford park.
Mario Albino Te, 21, of High Road, Ilford, was found not guilty this morning of murdering Bradley Quaresma but an Old Bailey jury found him guilty of the alternative charge of manslaughter.
Bradley, 20, who was affectionately known as Bre, died after being stabbed in the neck and chest in West Ham Lane Recreation Ground in July last year.
DCI Gary Holmes said the Portuguese student, who had studied in London for two years, was “a young man in the prime of his life who was tragically killed at the hands of Te”.
He said “The jury found Te guilty of Bradley’s unlawful killing, and rejected the claim that he was acting in self defence and that Bradley was the aggressor.
“I would like to thank Bradley’s family for the bravery and courage they have shown since his death and throughout our investigation.”
The court heard that a fight had broken out between a large group of men at the park on July 21 last year in front of horrified members of the public who were out enjoying the sunshine.
Police were called at about 3.15pm to reports of a stabbing and London’s air ambulance also attended.
The victim, who was later identified as Bradley, was pronounced dead at the scene. A post mortem carried out the next day revealed his cause of death as stab injuries.
Following the incident, a young man was seen running from the park on to Tennyson Road by several witnesses.
Officers identified Te as a suspect after scanning CCTV footage of the area and recovering a large kitchen knife in nearby Whalebone Lane, which was later found to have Bradley’s blood on it.
Both men were said to be known to one other and had been in contact in the days before the incident.
Te initially fled the capital, boarding a train to Paris from St Pancras station on the morning after the murder.
Officers, working in cooperation with the French authorities, detained him in Paris after identifying him by a bag containing cash, clothing and ID.
He was brought back to the UK and arrested on suspicion of murder the same afternoon.
Te was formally charged on July 24, 2016 after offering no comment during interviews.
He will be sentenced at the Old Bailey on Friday.
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