A Nigerian, Chester Dauda, faces life in prison after being found guilty of murdering a Ghanaian A-level student, Stephen Boachie in east London in a “reckless and violent” act.

Boachie, 17, suffered a 14cm (5,5ins) stab wound to his heart in an attack outside a pub in Barking, on 1 January 2007, the Old Bailey heard.

Chester Dauda, a 21-year-old Nigerian immigrant from Plaistow, east London, was convicted of his murder. Dauda will appear in court later this month for sentencing.

Inspector Tim Wilkinson said: “Dauda’s reckless and violent actions resulted in the senseless killing of Stephen Boachie, a 17-year-old boy with his whole life ahead of him.”

On the night he was killed, Stephen had just left the Thatched House pub where he had celebrated the New Year, then later hugged a girl who had been in a car with Dauda.

A “scuffle” broke out between Stephen and Dauda before the knife was produced, said Mark Ellison QC, prosecuting.

“Clearly angered by what had happened, the defendant went back to the car, and then returned to Stephen Boachie and stabbed him twice in the upper body.”

He died despite the efforts of a doctor to perform open heart surgery in the garage forecourt where he collapsed.

When Dauda was arrested five weeks later, he initially said he had not been at the pub and spent the evening visiting a mosque and then a friend’s house.

Later he admitted being outside the pub and said: “The boy in the hood tried to steal from my pockets so I pushed him back and punched him.”