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The older brother of a teenager knifed to death on a Holloway estate has said “justice has been put in place” as his sibling’s killer was yesterday (Thursday) jailed for life at the Old Bailey.

Vasilaki Kakko, 17, known to friends as Vaso, became the fourth teenager from Islington to fall victim to knife crime last year after he was fatally stabbed in the neck on the Shearling Way estate, off Caledonian Road, on November 23.

Uche Ejimonye, 20, who was found guilty of Vaso’s murder on Wednesday, was handed a life sentence with a minimum of 21 years.

Sentencing, Judge Wendy Joseph QC said: “I am satisfied that this was a knife driven from behind into Vaso’s neck and in the circumstances I am able to treat this as an intention to kill.

“I have no doubt that the impact [of this murder] on Vaso’s family is not only profound but also permanent. Not only is a 17-year-old dead and his family devastated, we can imagine how much the family of the defendant himself must have been affected by all this.”

During the two-week trial the court heard that Ejimonye, a cannabis dealer who lived on the Andover estate in Finsbury Park, had a continuing dispute with Vaso who, he told the jury, had stabbed him and threatened him with a Taser in the weeks before the murder.

On the night of the killing, they encountered each other in Caledonian Road, where Ejimonye had intended to buy cannabis from one of Vaso’s friends. An argument ensued between the two, but mutual friends tried to defuse the situation, the court heard.

The group then made their way towards Yoke Close, on the Shearling Way estate, with Vaso and Ejimonye continuing to argue, but according to a witness things had calmed down as they arrived.

However, after two of the friends had stepped a short distance away from the small courtyard in Yoke Close where they had been smoking weed, Ejimonye attacked Vaso from behind, fatally stabbing him in the neck, as well as the back, the court heard.

Ejimonye left the teenager to bleed to death – just a few hundred yards from where 16-year-old student Ben Kinsella was murdered in 2008 – and fled to Essex and then Bognor Regis, where he was arrested a week later.

The court heard Ejimonye had abandoned an accounting course and had not been in education or employment throughout 2015, relying on selling cannabis for his income.

This, Judge Joseph said, “inevitably involved him in mixing with others who were living in a similar world” and appears to have included Vaso.

In 2015, Ejimonye was the victim of a knife attack that did not involve Vaso, but led him to start carrying a knife.

Judge Joseph added: “I am satisfied that on more than one occasion he produced that knife.”

She added that he seemed to think that was fine because it was produced in a situation in which he was in some danger from the circles he was mixing in.

“I can emphasise this conduct was not fine,” she added. “If these ­circles put him in danger [it would have been wise] to stay away from those circles.”

Speaking after the sentencing, Vaso’s brother Bruno, 26, told the Tribune: “All in all, I think the judge has made the right decision with the sentence.

“We are devastated and we can’t change the fact that Vaso is gone and he will never be back but we feel some justice was put in place and a huge thank-you goes to the jury and police.

“The police have supported us and have been there for us.”

Judge Joseph reserved special words of commendation for a friend of the victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons. 

He rang the ambulance and tried to save Vaso. In his initial statement to police he said he had no knowledge of what happened but after a sleepless night had told officers the truth. He appeared as a key witness in court.

The judge said: “[The witness] did not have an easy start in life. I know what he did took amazing courage and I am impressed by the way he has reassessed his life.”

The youngster would be given £500 “from the appropriate funds” as a reward for his actions, the judge said.

Bruno added: “I want to thank [Vaso’s friend] for what he did on the night and for being here [in court] and stating nothing more than the truth.”

Ejimonye, dressed in a grey jumper, showed no emotion as he was led away from the dock by two guards.

He will remain on licence for the rest of his life.