Raphael Kokkinos Bio – Raphael Kokkinos Wiki
Raphael Kokkinos, the killer of a father-to-be whose body was dumped and set on fire on a London common, has been jailed for manslaughter.
AGE:
Raphael Kokkinos is 34 years old.
DETAIL OF INCIDENCE:
Raphael Kokkinos admitted killing Jean Loeike Guei, 23, at his flat in Streatham to get out of paying a drugs debt during the coronavirus lockdown, the Old Bailey heard.
He covered up the crime with the help of his pensioner mother, Sophia Kokkinos, and friend Aaron Williams by disposing of the drug dealer’s 6ft 7in body and setting it alight on Mitcham Common in September 2020.
Jurors were told that a horrified cyclist discovered the body at around 6 am on September 17.
Raphael Kokkinos was jailed for nine years, and his mother and Williams were sentenced to three years for perverting the course of justice.
Prosecutors said that Mr. Guei was killed after £40,000 worth of cocaine given to Raphael to store at his home in Streatham was stolen during a burglary in August 2020.
Bill Emlyn Jones KC said Mr. Guei made it clear to Raphael he expected to get £40,000 back to replace the stolen cocaine and told his partner: ‘The man owes me 40,000 bags… The man is going to pay me back.’
Raphael later told Mr. Guei he had £9,000 and they discussed meeting up, but the killer stopped taking his calls.
Mr. Emlyn Jones said it was clear the victim met up with Raphael at his home in Polworth Road, Streatham, on the evening of September 15.
‘Inside the address, he must have been subjected to a violent assault. The court heard that he suffered lacerations to his forehead and the back of his head.
The prosecutor said one of the injuries was consistent with Mr. Guei’s head slamming against a hard kitchen surface.
‘That left, as you can probably imagine, Raphael Kokkinos with a problem – he had a dead body to get rid of,’ he said.
‘He decided that he was not going to involve the authorities and phone the police or phone for an ambulance. Instead, he recruited his friends and family to help him with his problem.
‘For a little under 48 hours, they got rid of Mr. Guei’s car, where he had arrived at the address where he was to be killed.
‘They got rid of his mobile phone; they cleaned the place up. Ultimately they got Mr. Guei’s body out of the address, into a car, and in the middle of the night, took the body to Mitcham Common, dumped it, and set it on fire.
‘They even, perhaps as a final humiliation, partially stripped Mr. Guei so that when he was found dead and on fire, his underpants had been pulled down around his thighs.’
The victim’s body had been moved into Williams’ Mercedes A-Class and driven to its final resting place. The Mercedes was then sold, while Mr. Guei’s VW Scirocco was also disposed of.
‘Williams’ role was to assist with the clean-up job of both cars involved,’ said Mr. Emlyn Jones.
He said a cyclist found the victim’s burning body just after 6 am.
‘He too could see that something was on fire, but unlike the motorist, he stopped and went closer to see what it was,’ he said. ‘And so it was him, the cyclist, who made a gruesome discovery: what was on fire was a dead man’s body.’
A tattoo later identified Mr. Guei on his right arm.
His partner Simone Hales-Johnson, who gave birth to their son three weeks after his death, said, ‘ I feel lost without him. His son will never get to meet his dad.’
She asked why Raphael made the ‘sinister decision to set his body alight’ before involving his mother in his chilling plan.
James Scobie, KC, for Raphael, said his client did not intend to cause anything more than ‘minor harm’ and attacked Mr. Guei in defense of himself.
Mr. Scobie alleged that Raphael was a victim of circumstance’.
Sophia’s lawyers argued that she gave no ‘physical assistance’ in the crime and played a ‘limited role’.
The court also heard that she looks after local animals and cares for her disabled son Joseph Kokkinos, who suffers from sickle cell anemia. He was also accused but acquitted of perverting the course of justice.
Raphael Kokkinos admitted manslaughter and perverting the course of justice. He was jailed for nine years for manslaughter and four years concurrent for perverting the course of justice.
Sophia Kokkinos and Williams denied but were convicted of perverting the course of justice. They were both jailed for three years.
Benoni Thomas, who was allegedly present at the flat at the time of the killing, denied and was cleared by the jury of manslaughter.
Raphael’s brothers, Joseph Kokkinos and Michael Brain were cleared by the jury of perverting the course of justice.