Teen detained over Carnival zombie knife attack

Rumarni Tuitt was found guilty of attempted murder

A teenager has been sentenced to 18 years detention after carrying out a "brutal" zombie knife attack at the Notting Hill Carnival last year.

Rumarni Tuitt, 19, from Walthamstow, north-east London, stabbed 18-year-old Kamani Spooner with the 12in (30cm)-long weapon on the evening of 26 August 2024.

After a two week trial at the Old Bailey he was found guilty of attempted murder, having earlier pleaded guilty to possession of a bladed article.

Sentencing him, Judge Judy Khan KC said it was a "brutal and wholly unjustifiable attack" and that there could be no justification for carrying a knife of that nature on to crowded streets, still less to Carnival.

Judge Khan said it was not the first time Tuitt had travelled to the event armed with a "fearsome weapon", and on this occasion had used it to "devastating effect".

"This was a particularly serious offence committed in the heart of Europe's biggest street festival," she said.

The judge quoted a police statement saying that every knife-related crime had a significant impact on the victim and created "widespread fear and anxiety within the community".

Warning: This article features distressing details

The trial heard that Tuitt sliced open the victim's stomach with the zombie knife and that four of the five stab injuries he inflicted were life-threatening.

There was no evidence to suggest that the victim and the defendant knew each other, the prosecution said.

The attack had occurred in daylight on a summer's evening in Canal Way, off Ladbroke Grove, and was witnessed by a police officer who had noticed the defendant appearing agitated and having an argument with another man.

The officer then saw the defendant reach into his waistband and "plunge his knife towards a group of people".

Tuitt ran off and tried to dispose of the weapon by throwing it on the ground, but it was recovered by police.

After spending a month in hospital the victim was able to make a statement to police.

Mr Spooner said that he remembered towards the end of Carnival he had seen people around him fighting and throwing punches, before he was hit in the back.

He then looked down to see that his intestines were hanging out and had to put his hand over them and run away.

'Harm and distress'

At the sentence hearing, prosecutor Mark Paltenghi said the defendant had also been arrested for possession of a knife at Notting Hill Carnival in 2023.

On that occasion Tuitt had become involved in an argument with a member of the public who was walking his dog and had produced a large Rambo knife and "swung it back and forth", but had been detained by police officers.

He was convicted for that offence in June last year and given a community order which was still in place when the attempted murder occurred, the court heard.

In mitigation Tuitt's barrister, Sheryl Nwosu, said the defendant was "genuinely sorry for the hurt, the harm and the distress he has caused".

The defendant had been attending Carnival with relatives and friends and had the knife "defensively", she said.

Tuitt, of Sutherland Road, Walthamstow, was given a concurrent sentence of one year for possession of a bladed article.