Healthy young man, 22, broke ankle in street attack - weeks later he was dead

THREE MEN ARE ON TRIAL AFTER TAHA ERRAMI, 22, WAS INJURED WHEN HE WAS PUNCHED AND STAMPED ON DURING THE ATTACK IN LONDON’S WEST END AND DIED FIVE WEEKS LATER OF A RARE COMPLICATION 10:33, 22

May 2025 A healthy young man suffered a broken ankle during “senseless street violence” and died weeks later due to a rare complication, a court has heard. Taha Errami, 22, was injured when

he was punched and stamped on during the attack in London’s West End early last June 1, jurors were told. He died in hospital five weeks later after suffering cardiac arrest on a train to

Paddington Station. It was caused by a blood clot that had travelled from the site of the ankle injury to his lungs, the Old Bailey was told. Malachi Wilson, 27; Devonta Rose, 21; and Dennis

Kaantharasan, 26, are on trial accused of Mr Errami’s manslaughter. Prosecutor Caroline Carberry KC said: “His assailants, during an episode of late-night, senseless street violence, were

these three defendants. Mr Errami did not know any of them.” She told jurors that the events before, during and after the incident in Shaftesbury Avenue had been caught on CCTV footage. The

victim had provided police with an account, which was recorded on the officer’s body-worn camera, the court was told. Mr Errami had asked the officer for help at about 1.15am, saying he had

just been robbed. He said that he had been talking to a woman before the men had “beaten him up” and “taken his phone”, Ms Carberry said. Mr Errami, who appeared to have been drinking,

explained that he had been in Leicester Square when one of the males allegedly took his cigarettes and punched him, causing his phone to fall out of his hand. They went on to Shaftesbury

Avenue, where two other men were with a woman in a red dress who splashed him with hand sanitiser, he said. Ms Carberry said: “He was, it would seem, under the mistaken impression that all

three defendants were together. “He said one of the men punched him to the floor and they all stepped and stamped on him. They then left together down Rupert Street, leaving him in the shop

doorway where the assault had taken place.” Mr Errami went on to explain to a paramedic on Shaftesbury Avenue that his leg had been stepped on during an assault. His left ankle was swollen

and tender, and an X-ray in hospital later confirmed it was fractured. His ankle was placed in a walker boot and he was given crutches before being discharged with advice to attend a

fracture clinic. Jurors heard that patients with lower limb fractures that are immobilised in a cast or in a walking boot have an increased risk of developing deep vein thrombosis (DVT). Ms

Carberry said that Mr Errami was “a young healthy person” and did not fall into the category of a patient requiring anticoagulant drugs but was given an advice leaflet about DVT. On the

charge against the defendants, the prosecutor told jurors: “It is not the Crown’s case that the three defendants intended to cause Mr Errami’s death, or even that they intended to cause him

serious physical harm, simply that they each participated in an assault which they realised might cause Mr Errami some harm.” Article continues below Wilson, of no fixed address; Rose, of

Manor Park, east London; and Kaantharasan, of Stratford, east London, have denied the charge against them. The trial at the Old Bailey continues.