Drug driver who stamped mother to death when she rushed to his aid after car crash jailed for 21 years
Ahanonu, of Dover Street, Leicester, denied murder but pleaded guilty to manslaughter, claiming diminished responsibility
A cannabis user who stamped on the head of a mother-of-two in a random attack after his car overturned near a hospital has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 21 years and six months for murder.
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Drug-dealer Chukwuemeka Ahanonu, 24, who is a former university student, was a stranger to 56-year-old mother Nila Patel when he punched, kicked and stamped on her “with full force” causing her to die in hospital two days later with brain damage.
The fatal attack happened after the car the defendant was driving flipped over near Leicester Royal Infirmary on June 24 last year.
Ms Patel was on her way home and had just got off the bus.
Ahanonu, of Dover Street, Leicester, denied murder but pleaded guilty to manslaughter, claiming diminished responsibility.
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He was convicted of murder by a jury at Leicester Crown Court on Monday after a month-long trial.
Sentencing Ahanonu, who is originally from Peckham in south-east London, Judge Timothy Spencer KC said on Tuesday: “You murdered a wholly innocent woman.
“It was shocking, brutal and merciless.”
He added: “You were angry, you were looking for a victim. You selected her, in my judgment, because of three things.
“One was her gender, a woman – you would not have attacked a man.
“The second was her build and her height – 5ft 4ins tall and of slight build.
“She was vulnerable.
“The third thing, I’m satisfied, was her race. In an unguarded moment, you talked about ‘dirty Asians’.”
Ahanonu listened in the dock wearing a dark grey jacket and tracksuit bottoms while Ms Patel’s son and daughter, Jaidan and Danika Patel, read victim impact statements to the court.
Mr Patel told the defendant: “Nine months ago today you murdered our mother.”
He added: “The pain of losing her in this way is impossible to accept.”
Ms Patel’s daughter, who was 21 at the time of the attack, said she “will never be able to make sense of” the “cruelty and randomness” of it.
Ms Patel added: “My mum was the most important person in my life.
“Losing her in such a violent and senseless way has shattered my world.”
Defence KC Paul Raudnitz told the court that Ahanonu has no memory of his violence that day and was “shocked” when he saw footage of the “awfulness of what he had done”.
Mr Raudnitz said: “I’m instructed now in the clearest of clear terms the defendant would like to express through me his sincere apologies.”
Judge Spencer told the defendant: “I’m quite satisfied you retain much more memory of this attack than you have ever had the courage to admit.”
Jurors had heard that Ahanonu was claiming universal credit despite running a “significant” drugs business, from which he claimed he could earn £10,000 a month.
When Ahanonu was tested for THC, which is produced by cannabis use, hours after the murder, a level of 7.6mcg was found, above the limit of 2mcg.
Ahanonu had also been released from prison on licence a year before the attack.
He was freed from a two-year sentence in July 2024, having been found with more than £1,000 in cash and a machete after going through a red light in September 2023.
At the start of the murder trial, Ahanonu pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, possession with intent to supply class B drugs, and assault of an emergency worker after he bit a female officer following his arrest.
He was found not guilty of common assault in connection with a woman known to him after an incident which was reported to have happened in London during the early hours of June 24.