Abattoir workers convicted for ‘house of horror’ double murder

Two abattoir workers who slaughtered their victims to death by repeatedly stabbing them have been convicted.

Ionut-Valentin Boboc, 22, and Jacob-Bebe Chers, 46, repeatedly stabbed victims Denzil McKenzie and Fahad Pramanik in Bristol on 11 September 2021, in what the police described in court as “a house of horror”.

Police said the bodies had been mutilated and reflected the killers’ butchery work and a post-mortem examination showed that both men died from multiple stab injuries.

Boboc admitted to murdering Denzil at an earlier hearing and was also found guilty of murdering Fahad.

Chers denied both murders but was convicted by a jury following a month-long trail at Bristol Crown Court.

Their sentencing will take place on Wednesday 21 December.

The bodies of the two men were found at Denzil’s house in Wood Street, Bristol, after emergency services received a 999 call from a relative of Boboc on Sunday 12 September 2021, where a murder investigation was launched by the Major Crime Investigation Team (MCIT).

Boboc and Chers, from Hillfields, had met Mr McKenzie, 56, through their work at an abattoir, where their job involved making incisions in the bellies of pigs. The men would occasionally drink together at his house.

Mr Pramanik, 27, had been visiting Mr McKenzie from London on the night of the murders and investigators believe he was at the “wrong place at the wrong time”.

During the course of the investigation, it was found that text messages were exchanged between Boboc and Mr McKenzie, revealing that the suspect repeatedly sought loans from the victim. The message exchanges also suggest Mr McKenzie had sought sexual favours from Boboc in exchange.

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On the night of the killings, Mr Mckenzie was tricked by Boboc into allowing him and Chers into his home, by claiming he had a “gift” for him, courts heard.

The two defendants were caught on CCTV walking towards Mr McKenzie’s home at 8.30pm, then returning the same way at about 11pm.

Murderers stole jewellery and electronics from the house

Detectives found hundreds of hours worth of visual material, including footage showing the suspects walking to and from the house in Wood Street on the night of the murders. The men were seen carrying audio equipment, jewellery and electronics, which they had stolen from the house.

In another account of CCTV footage, the two suspects were seen at Coombe Brook nature reserve, where it was later discovered they had discarded items. Video evidence from a car wash where Chers worked, showed him putting items in a bin and cleaning his car on the morning after the murders.

Police have said the investigation is “highly distressing”, especially for the victim’s families who have had to “endure the terrible ordeal of hearing how their loved ones were murdered”.

DCI Almond added: “They’ve shown no remorse for their actions and have put the families of the victims through further torment as a result”.

“While we may never know why these defendants chose to murder two innocent men, it remains abundantly clear they both have a dangerous propensity for violence and cruelty, and our communities are a safer place with them behind bars”.