Louis Vuitton Model Convicted of Brutally Stabbing Fashion Rival After Social Media Dispute
British Louis Vuitton model George Koh was found guilty of murdering fellow male model Harry Uzoka.
The fatal incident took place in January after Koh, 24, and Uzoka, 25, got into a heated social media dispute, the Associated Press reported.
Prosecutors claim Koh was envious of Uzoka, who was growing in the fashion industry after being signed to Premier Model Management and modeling for GQ and Zara.
Uzoka had also recently landed a film role and was even close friends with high profile model Jourdan Dunn.
Dunn, 28, paid tribute to Uzoka following his murder. “Rest in Paradise Young King,” Dunn tweeted.
Before Uzoka’s death, he called Koh “fake,” and asked him to stop “copying him.”
“Leave my name out of your mouth, it’s that simple, I’ve never spoken bad of you in any way, so this is wild,” Uzoka wrote in a message to Koh shown in court.
The two then decided to hash out their differences in person after Koh claimed he slept with Uzoka’s girlfriend model Ruby Campbell, who Uzoka met on set of a photoshoot in Los Angeles last summer.
“Koh claimed he knew Uzoka well and then said that he had sex with Uzoka’s girlfriend and that was the reason why they no longer talked,” Prosecutor Richard Horwell QC said in court Monday according to BBC.
“Where you I’ll come there n we can fight bring ur friends with u,” Koh told Uzoka.
Uzoka then responded, “Come Shepherd’s Bush.”
Once they met up at the location in London, Uzoka was chased down by Koh and his friends, which was recorded on nearby surveillance cameras.
Uzoka, who brought a dumbbell bar to the fight, was then stabbed with a knife three times and died on a sidewalk in front of his house, the New York Post reported.
Koh told the judge he carried the knives for self-defense.
In addition to Koh, his two friends, Jonathan Okigbo, 24, and Merse Dikanda, 24, who went with him to meet Uzoka were also found guilty.
Both Koh and Dikanda, who brought a machete to the fight, were found guilty of murder and Okigbo, who was not armed, was found guilty of manslaughter, according to the BBC.
They will all be sentenced on Sep. 21.
