A drug dealer high on cannabis who attacked and killed a woman after crashing his BMW laughed as he was questioned by police about the murder.
Chukwuemeka Michael Ahanonu, 24, – who made £10,000 a week while on benefits selling drugs – targeted 5ft 4ins stranger Nila Patel as she alighted a bus and was making her way home.
After pulling her from behind, he punched her in the face with such severity that she fell on to the pavement. She was then kicked and stamped on as she lay on the ground outside Leicester Royal Infirmary.
Ms Patel, 56, a single mother of two, suffered a fractured skull and a brain injury and died in hospital two days later.
Ahanonu, a former university student originally from Peckham, south-east London, had carried out the attack moments after flipping his BMW on its roof in broad daylight in Leicester city centre in June last year.
He had been driving erratically and dangerously around the city centre – swerving across lanes, driving through traffic lights, and towards a bus stop where people were waiting and pedestrians crossing the road.
Police found he had been smoking cannabis and was on licence at the time having been freed from a two-year sentence in July 2024, handed down after he was caught with £1,000 in cash and a machete after going through a red light in September 2023.
Following his arrest, Ahanonu told police he could only remember the collision and could not remember attacking Ms Patel.
In one video he laughed as he was shown footage of his driving prior to the crash.
When asked by police what he found amusing as he laughed, the killer responded: ‘If I don’t laugh, I cry.’
He later boasted about owning a ‘BMW one series’ saying ‘not many people can afford that, do you understand?’.
He refused to answer questions about his drug use in interviews but did tell officers he had recently returned from France after ‘partying like animals’ without sleeping for two days.
Ahanonu denied murder instead pleading guilty to her manslaughter, claiming diminished responsibility.
He was convicted of murder by a jury at Leicester Crown Court on Monday after a month-long trial.
Michael Ahanonu told police he could not remember the killing. He was captured laughing during a police interview (pictured), telling officers: ”If I don’t laugh, I cry.’
Nila Patel, 56, was killed in a vicious attack by Chukwuemeka Ahanonu, 23, who was a stranger to her
Sentencing Ahanonu life with a minimum term of 21 years and six months on Tuesday Judge Timothy Spencer KC said: ‘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.’
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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.’
The trial heard that the defendant paid for his flat, his BMW, his living expenses and drug use by selling cannabis.
Prosecutor Mary Prior said Ahanonu received universal credit and earned £10,000 a month selling drugs while on benefits.
She said he ran a ‘significant’ drug dealing business and before the killing ‘had smoked lots of cannabis’.
The court heard he crashed his car outside Leicester Royal Infirmary at 5.32pm after veering on to the wrong side of the road and crashing through railings.
Ms Patel, who was on a bus on the road at the time and speaking to a friend on the phone, had seen the collision and stepped off the bus outside the Leicester Royal Infirmary at 5.33pm to walk the rest of the way home.
A short distance later Ahanonu violently attacked Ms Patel who fell to the ground. Witnesses reported Ahanonu punching, kicking and stamping on Ms Patel.
Jurors were shown footage of the victim lying prone on a pavement being stamped on, which was captured by a security guard’s body-cam as he ran to help, and by a witness who filmed through railings across the road.
Chukwuemeka Ahanonu, 24, was convicted of murder today at Leicester Crown Court
The car then flips on to its roof and hits a second set of railings at the roadside
Following his arrest, Ahanonu told police he could only remember the collision and could not remember attacking Ms Patel
In a statement released after he was convicted, Ms Patel’s children said they were still tying to ‘process the shock and trauma of losing mum in such a sudden and violent way’.
They said: ‘Mum was a single mother who faced many obstacles and hardships throughout her life — challenges that would have broken most people.
‘Yet no matter what she went through, she would still end each day with a smile bright enough to lift the mood of everyone around her.
‘She was quiet, gentle, funny, kind, loving and deeply caring. She always put others before herself and she never expected anything in return.
‘What truly made her happy was making the people around her feel loved — whether that was through a thoughtful gift, a warm meal she had cooked, or one of the sweet desserts she loved to make for us.
They added: ‘Mum still had so much life ahead of her. She should have had the chance to grow old, to enjoy retirement, to become a grandmother and to celebrate many more milestones with her family. All of those moments have now been taken away from her — and from us.
‘The cruelty and senselessness of what happened on that day in June last year is something we will forever struggle to come to terms.
‘The fact that mum was concerned about the defendant after his crash shows exactly the type of person she was.
‘Even in that moment, her instinct was to care about someone else. There isn’t a day goes by where we don’t think about her, miss her or wish we could speak to her just one more time.’
Det Insp Emma Matts said: ‘Ahanonu was unknown to Ms Patel. After crashing his vehicle, he ran from the scene, violently attacking Ms Patel.
‘This was the most horrific, violent and random attack by a stranger on a kind, gentle and loving woman, who was simply making her way home.
‘It is hard to imagine what Ms Patel went through in those moments.
‘My thoughts continue to remain with her and with her family and friends, who have suffered and continue to suffer the most horrendous distress and pain.’
