The star was just eight when his friend was stabbed. Decades on, he\u2019s ready to talk about that day \u2013 how it shaped him, and how, as he becomes a father himself, it will shape him as a dad<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel a bit nervous,\u201d confesses John Boyega, as he sits down in front of the camera. \u201cSpeaking about it could possibly help. I haven\u2019t revisited this in a long time. Yeah, my heart is just beating.\u201d The Attack the Block and Star Wars actor is talking in the opening scene of a new BBC Two documentary about the killing of 10-year-old schoolboy Damilola Taylor.<\/p>\n
On 27\u00a0November 2000, Damilola was stabbed in the leg with a broken bottle and left to die in a concrete stairwell, attacked as he walked home from an after-school club at Peckham library in south London. It took six years and three separate trials at the Old Bailey, costing a total of \u00a316m, to secure a manslaughter conviction. His death shocked the nation not only because he was so young, but because all the suspects were also children. Boyega was one of the last people to see Damilola alive. The pair had enjoyed a close friendship since Damilola\u2019s move to the UK from Nigeria in August of that\u00a0year.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/5868611815714f427c89c45fb1b0ffce2b438ead\/0_513_5464_4367\/master\/5464.jpg?width=140&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=e40b4e1097ef01b6abe2ed8778a7048e\" "\\"Star")
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