Jodie Chesney’s sister: “She was my best friend”

Jodie at London Pride in 2018

Jodie Chesney’s sister says her killers should “hang their heads in shame” for what they have done to her family.

Svenson Ong-a-Kwie and a 17-year-old boy were today found guilty of murdering the girl scout in Amy’s Park in Harold Hill.

Jodie, 17, was stabbed in the back while she was hanging out with friends on Friday, 1 March.

Jodie’s sister Lucy said:“I am only 20 years old and already I am dreading my life rather than looking forward to it. Jodie was not only my sister she was my best friend. Losing her is like losing half of myself. We went through everything together and she was always there for me and always putting everyone before herself. She gave me a type of love I will never feel again.

“I am anxious about everything: leaving the house, staying in the house, meeting people. If someone as good and pure as Jodie could be murdered, it could happen to anyone and I spend everywhere I go looking over my shoulder because of it.

“Jodie will be greatly missed and the people who caused such tragedy to a whole family should hang their head in shame. You have ripped away a bright future that was destined to make a change to many lives.”

(credit: Chesney family)

Jurors heard more than seven weeks of evidence during a trial of four people accused of murdering Jodie.

They then spent less than six hours deliberating before unanimously finding Ong-a-Kwie and the 17-year-old boy guilty of murder.

Two others, Manuel Petrovic, 20, and a 16-year-old boy, were cleared of killing Jodie.

Ong-a-Kwie and the 17-year-old will be sentenced at the Old Bailey on Monday, 18 November.