Two brothers murdered an innocent teenager by driving a van at him and crushing the 17-year-old against railings in a deliberate hit-and-run attack, the Old Bailey heard today (May 27).

The attack by Dwight Callender, 27, and brother Derrell, 25, left Johnson Ndjoli in a coma with devastating brain injuries on April 24 2009. He died seven-and-a-half months later. 
 
Both brothers were jailed in 2009 for the attempted murder of Mr Ndjoli and pal Mohammed Turay but have since been charged with murder.
  
Prosecutor Dorian Lovell-Pank said they claimed during their first trial that the van had been stolen and used by someone else to carry out the attack, but now their defence had changed. 
 
He said: "They ran that defence before the previous jury and the previous jury didn't believe it.
 
"Now they are back again, charged with murder, and Dwight Callender will be saying yes, I was driving the van, and it was attacked by a group of people, one of whom included Mohammed Turay. 
 
"He says Mr Turay was armed with a gun and Dwight Callender thought he was in danger. 
 
"He tried to drive away to protect himself and the van and his brother, and during the course of trying to get away he was aware he hit one of the group."

Mr Lovell-Pank said: "There is going to be no dispute that Dwight Callender was driving the van. Sitting next to him in the passenger seat was his brother. 
 
"The van came down the road and it swerved into Johnson's path and rammed him full on. 
 
"Johnson hit his head on the windscreen which smashed, and he was crushed against some railings that ran along the payment in that part of the street. 
 
"He was terribly badly injured."

The court heard in the aftermath of the attack on Mr Ndjoli, the victim was shot in the right buttock and stabbed in the neck by someone other than the Callenders. 

Mr Lovell-Pank said the van failed to stop after the crash, in Sanford Street, New Cross, instead turning its attention to 20-year-old Mr Turay. 
 
Dwight Callender, formerly of Mercator Road, Lewisham, and Derrell Callender, formerly of Leybridge Court, Eltham, both deny murder. 
 
The trial continues.