Harley Quinn
April 22nd, 2010, 11:45 AM
A former child model and his friend have been jailed for life for murdering a doctor in a robbery in a London park.
Nadim Gulamhuseinwala, 32, was attacked in the early hours of 25 July last year as he walked home through Green Park.
He was hit with a 10kg cast iron fence pole and his face was stamped on, the Old Bailey heard. He died later.
Angel Delight model Thomas Connor and William Paton, both 20 and from Orpington, Kent, will serve minimum terms of 25 and 23 years respectively.
Both were given concurrent terms of 10 years' detention for robbery.
Taken cocaine
The trial heard how Dr Gulamhuseinwala had been for a drink after work with a friend in the Funky Buddha nightclub.
He was walking home at about 0400 BST when he stopped near railings in Queen's Walk, in Green Park, central London, to phone his girlfriend Rebecca Bott. He was then attacked.
Dr Gulamhuseinwala died in hospital two weeks later from a severe head injury.
The jury heard how Paton and Connor had taken cocaine and had been drinking in a club called the Strawberry Moons that night.
Connor withdrew £90 from a cash machine, but was later robbed in Soho.
"This seems to have driven him into a towering rage," said Mr Andrew Edis QC. "He was angry."
The pair walked through the alleyways of St James's to Queen's Walk.
They sat on a park bench and when they saw Dr Gulamhuseinwala they ran 100m towards him. Connor picked up the post and threw it at him.
The money they stole from him was spent on prostitutes.
Judge Stephen Kramer described the doctor as an "admirable and fine man".
He told the defendants: "You emerged from the shadows with your weapon, you attacked him by throwing it at his head and felled him to the ground."
The court was told that Connor was "teased and tormented" when children at school found out he was the face of Angel Delight which had "scarred him".
Dr Gulamhuseinwala's brother Imran told the court in an impact statement: "He was on the verge of an exciting future, full of promise and happiness. Our lives have been changed forever."
Outside court, the doctor's father Vajiuddin Gulamhuseinwala, 73, from Ealing, west London, said: "He lived for 32 years but achieved twice as much as most people would in 64 years.
"We will remember him as a unique, loving son."
Click (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/8637118.stm)
Nadim Gulamhuseinwala, 32, was attacked in the early hours of 25 July last year as he walked home through Green Park.
He was hit with a 10kg cast iron fence pole and his face was stamped on, the Old Bailey heard. He died later.
Angel Delight model Thomas Connor and William Paton, both 20 and from Orpington, Kent, will serve minimum terms of 25 and 23 years respectively.
Both were given concurrent terms of 10 years' detention for robbery.
Taken cocaine
The trial heard how Dr Gulamhuseinwala had been for a drink after work with a friend in the Funky Buddha nightclub.
He was walking home at about 0400 BST when he stopped near railings in Queen's Walk, in Green Park, central London, to phone his girlfriend Rebecca Bott. He was then attacked.
Dr Gulamhuseinwala died in hospital two weeks later from a severe head injury.
The jury heard how Paton and Connor had taken cocaine and had been drinking in a club called the Strawberry Moons that night.
Connor withdrew £90 from a cash machine, but was later robbed in Soho.
"This seems to have driven him into a towering rage," said Mr Andrew Edis QC. "He was angry."
The pair walked through the alleyways of St James's to Queen's Walk.
They sat on a park bench and when they saw Dr Gulamhuseinwala they ran 100m towards him. Connor picked up the post and threw it at him.
The money they stole from him was spent on prostitutes.
Judge Stephen Kramer described the doctor as an "admirable and fine man".
He told the defendants: "You emerged from the shadows with your weapon, you attacked him by throwing it at his head and felled him to the ground."
The court was told that Connor was "teased and tormented" when children at school found out he was the face of Angel Delight which had "scarred him".
Dr Gulamhuseinwala's brother Imran told the court in an impact statement: "He was on the verge of an exciting future, full of promise and happiness. Our lives have been changed forever."
Outside court, the doctor's father Vajiuddin Gulamhuseinwala, 73, from Ealing, west London, said: "He lived for 32 years but achieved twice as much as most people would in 64 years.
"We will remember him as a unique, loving son."
Click (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/8637118.stm)