Killer thugs used victim 'like trampoline'

11:13am Monday 29th September 2008

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LIFE sentences have been given to a pair of thugs who killed a man by kicking him, stamping on him and jumping on his body.

The Old Bailey was told today (September 26) that Dennis Hind and Tutu Kabalika seemed to find their attack "amusing", circling their victim "like hyenas".

Hind, aged 21, and Kabalika, aged 20, were on their way home from a party, high on drink and drugs, when they came across Stephen Miller, aged 45, outside his home in Middle Park Avenue, Eltham, on August 24 last year.

Mr Miller, who suffered from headaches, had left his flat to get some fresh air.

But for unknown reasons, the two men attacked him.

Judge David Paget told them: "Between you, you kicked him, stamped on him and jumped on his body.

"He begged you to stop but you went on.

"One witness described the two of you circling him like hyenas and taking turns to kick him as you would kick a football.

"One witness described him being used like a trampoline."

The assault only ended when two men from a nearby flat called the police and scared the pair off with their Staffordshire bull terrier.

The judge said: "Despite your drunken condition, both of you then stopped and left the area at once.

"It must follow that you knew what you were doing."

Mr Miller was left with 15 broken ribs and 46 injuries to his head and neck.

He died in hospital a few hours after the attack, without regaining consciousness.

Mitigating for Hind, Lauren Soeritsz said her client, a former boxer from Churchbury Avenue, Eltham, had low intelligence and would not leave the house unless he had taken drugs or alcohol.

She said: "Mr Hind would not have carried out the action that he did if it were not for his particular condition on that night."

And the court was told part-time plasterer Kabalika, of Picardy Road, Belvedere, had been binging on alcohol and drinking constantly since his birthday on August 19.

During the trial both men had denied inflicting the fatal blow on Mr Miller, but on July 10 they were both convicted of murder.

The judge told them: "As you kicked and stamped Stephen Miller to death, you found it amusing."

He highlighted the fact that the pair had not intended to kill "but to cause really serious injury"and the act was not premeditated Hind and Kabilaka were each given a life sentence and told they would serve a minimum of 15 years in jail.

Sentencing them, the judge said: "You two men attacked and killed another man, Stephen Miller, essentially for no reason except that both of you were very much the worse for drink and drugs."