A BRIGHT A-level student who wanted to become an architect was stabbed to death as he tried to defend a friend on the way home from school, police believe.
Robert Levy, 16, who was studying maths and physics, stepped in to break up an argument between his friend and another youth when he was stabbed up to five times in the neck and chest.
He managed to stagger 50 yards to the busy square outside Hackney Town Hall, East London, where he collapsed just before 4pm on Thursday. He was found by passing police officers. Police at first thought the attack was the result of local gang rivalries but now believe the teenager may have been the victim of an unprovoked attack.
Witnesses said that the attacker may have been a member of a gang from the nearby London Fields estate. Family and friends said there was no way that Robert would have been involved in any gang trouble and described him as a “good Samaritan” who had never been in trouble.
After laying a bouquet of pink lilies and red roses at the scene where Robert collapsed, one of his two older brothers said: “Robert was an ace student, he was a good person. He was studying maths and physics and he wanted to be an architect. He was a hero that tried to save someone.
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“He never got into any trouble, he was very bright and he was loved by everyone.”
A school friend, who did not want to be named, said: “He wasn’t meant to be stabbed. He wasn’t meant to die. He was saving his best friend. He was a great kid.”
A local shopkeeper said: “He could see his friend did not know the attacker had pulled a knife on him. The victim dived in to save his best friend, but he got stabbed instead.
“He was stabbed in the chest, then stabbed again in the neck and then again in the chest.”
Friends said that the teenager had just received good results in his GCSEs — he passed ten — which he took at the Cardinal Pole school in Hackney before moving to a school in Wanstead to study A levels.
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Up to 50 bouquets were piled up within a small police cordon on the square outside the town hall and hundreds of friends, family members and local residents gathered to pay their respects.
Notes were left to “Robbo” and “Pablo” nicknames used by his close friends.
One read: “Robbo, I swear never to stop until I catch revenge — Cuz”, while another said: “RIP cuz Luv Cuz bungle and the Lordship Boys.”
At the family home less than half a mile away a stream of friends visited the quiet cul-de-sac where Robert lived in a two-storey modern terrace home. His neighbours were too upset to speak but a family friend, Yetunde Oyedeji, 36, said Robert had never been involved with local gangs.
“He was an excellent role model for black boys. Robert’s mother and father brought him up with respect, they are loving parents and Robert was the type of kid that avoided trouble.”
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Robert had been walking home from school with two friends when it is believed two youths approached them and began to pick a fight with one of his friends.
Robert was seen stepping in to try to calm the situation when one of the youths pulled out a flick knife and stabbed him.
A local mother said a friend of her daughter had seen the whole thing. “Robert stepped in and said ‘allow him’ and the next thing the guy held up a flick knife and stabbed Robert,” said the mother who asked not to be named.
“His friend then grabbed the guy and asked what it was all about and he just said, ‘It’s a Fields thing’.
“There was never any kind of argument or confrontation, it just seemed unprovoked. It makes no sense and it seems it is always the innocent ones who die.”
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Paramedics tried to resuscitate Robert at the scene but he was pronounced dead on arrival at the nearby Royal London Hospital. Police teams yesterday cleared the square to comb it for clues.
A 16-year-old youth, who gave himself up to police early yesterday morning, has been arrested and is being questioned in connection with the incident at a local police station.
Detective Chief Inspector David Brown said: “This was a vicious and unprovoked attack on a young boy who has lost his life in tragic circumstances.”
He appealed for witnesses to the murder to come forward, in particular a 30-year-old black man who was close to the stabbing. Police have recovered a knife which was due to undergo scientific tests to establish if it is the murder weapon and officers are searching through CCTV footage.
Mr Brown, of the Specialist Crime Directorate, last night urged the local community not to seek their own revenge and said police patrols were being stepped up in the area.
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“This is being treated as a vicious, unprovoked knife attack and we are appealing for people to remain calm and not to seek any retaliation,” he said.
“At this stage I am keeping an open mind as to whether the motive for the attack may have had gang association.”