Three more on Shaquille stab charge

12:57pm Sunday 7th September 2008

Three more teenagers have been charged with the murder of a 14-year-old boy stabbed while sitting on a bench outside his home, police have said.

Shaquille Smith was killed in Hackney, east London, last weekend.

George Amponsah, 18, of Greenwood Road, east London, and two youths aged 16 and 17 from the Hackney area will appear at Thames Magistrates' Court on Monday.

Two others charged with Shaquille's murder - Godiowe Dufeal, 19, of Well Street, east London, and a 16-year-old boy who cannot be named - appeared in court earlier this week.

Dufeal and the 16-year-old were remanded in custody to appear at the Central Criminal Court on October 3.

Shaquille was sitting on the bench in St Thomas's Place when he was surrounded by a group of about 15 youths just before midnight, witnesses said.

He was stabbed in the stomach and died at 8am the next day in hospital.

His sister Tahira, 16, was also stabbed and treated in hospital.

Shaquille had been due to go back to school this week to start his GCSE studies.

His mother, Sandra Maitland-Smith, a social worker, said: "He had a unique character and common touch that would have both taken him to the top and maintained him in that position."

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