Ibrahim Gonclaves-Cumare, 30, is charged with the murder of 34-year-old Troy Ramsundar and having a knife last Thursday (March 20)
On Wednesday (March 26), a court heard he allegedly travelled from Croydon to Brixton with a knife in his pocket and wearing a hood and mask.
At around 5am, the defendant allegedly came across Mr Ramsundar at a bus stop on Brixton Road where he was believed to have been trying to sell bags of crisps.
Setting out the allegations, prosecutor Bill Emlyn Jones KC told the court: “Every indication is that they were strangers to each other.
“The defendant beckoned to Mr Ramsundar to come with him and they walked down a side road.
“Within 90 seconds of having met each other, the defendant took a knife from his pocket and repeatedly stabbed Mr Ramsundar to the chest, front and back.”
Police were called to reports of an injured man in Brixton Road at 5.10am but despite the efforts of emergency services, Mr Ramsundar died at the scene.
He had suffered around three stab wounds, the court was told.
On a possible motive for the attack, Mr Emlyn Jones said: “As to why he chose Brixton and Mr Ramsundar, that for the moment is obviously a matter of great concern but cannot be resolved.”
On Sunday, Venezuelan national Gonclaves-Cumare was charged with murder.
The defendant, of no fixed address, appeared at the Old Bailey on Wednesday by video-link from Wandsworth Prison.
He was assisted by a Spanish interpreter and spoke only to confirm his identity.
Judge Mark Dennis KC set a plea hearing for June 11 and a provisional trial from December 1.
Remanding the defendant into custody, the judge noted the killing appeared to be a “wholly unwarranted display of violence on what amounts, on the face of it, (to be) a completely random attack on an innocent person by a masked and hooded individual carrying a kitchen knife with him”.
