Pastor Forgives Man who Killed His Daughter

An Angolan refugee was recently given two life terms at the Old Bailey for murdering two women in the span of two weeks. But Ben Okechukwu, the father of 18-year-old victim Ruth, forgave Roberto Malasi - the man who killed his daughter.

Okechukwu, pastor of a Pentecostal church in south London, said: "For me personally, as a man of God, I feel sorry for him and I forgive him.

"He has been left behind by his parents and of course, from the Christian point of view, he doesn't know what his crimes are.

"He doesn't see human beings as human beings. He thinks they are animals."

Roberto Malasi, 18, and two other accomplices were no longer welcome in Britain, the judge said, but he had the power to expel only one of the youths.

Malasi stabbed student Ruth Okechukwu, six times in September 2005 after she 'spoke her mind' to him on a mobile phone.

Two weeks earlier, Malasi - who slept rough in Peckham, south London, after being rejected by his parents - murdered Zainab Kalokoh, 33. She had a baby in her arms when Malasi and three other teenagers burst in with guns to rob guests at a christening party.

As she lay dying, the gang gathered the belongings of the terrified guests.

Malasi was convicted of the christening shooting in December and admitted Miss Okechukwu's killing last month.

His defence said the horrific violence in the "terrible summer" of 2005 had to be looked at in the light of his childhood, which was a "catalogue of misery and deprivation".