Fatal stabbing of pilot’s 15-year-old son in Archway ‘followed argument about fireworks’

Romario Opia’s uncle Rex Robinson said the schoolboy was near his home in Archway when he was knifed in the chest after arguing with a youth.

(Family handout)

A 15-year-old boy stabbed to death in north London was the son of a pilot and was killed over a petty feud about fireworks, his family said today.

Romario Opia’s uncle Rex Robinson said the schoolboy was near his home in Archway when he was knifed in the chest after arguing with a youth.

Mr Robinson said: “The argument was over fireworks from a while back, we have been told. We don’t know if one threw a firework at the other or what, but it was childish stuff… Where he was killed is just across the road from his gran. The family are devastated — his mother hasn’t even seen his body yet.”

He said that his nephew “had good morals and is well educated. His father is a pilot.”

The killing in Holland Walk at about 5.30pm on Monday came five days after Anas Mezenner, 17, was fatally stabbed in Turnpike Lane.

Police said that although the first lockdown was partly behind a fall in violence last year, curbs had had a negative effect on mental health among children and were potentially behind a rise in youngsters being killed in their own homes in domestic abuse cases.