Andrew Clark, 43, sustained fatal head injuries when Demeish Williams, 30, hit him with an open palm outside the shop on Upper Elmers End Road, Beckenham, at around 8.30pm on March 16.
Bus driver Williams had become aggressive inside the shop when Andrew told him he couldn’t cut in front of him and his wife to pay.
Williams then put on a facemask and waited outside for Andrew, hitting him in the side of the head as he walked out the door.
Prosecutor Alistair Richardson said Andrew was knocked out by the blow and fell without breaking his fall, hitting his head on the ground. He died in hospital three days later.
Williams appeared at Woolwich Crown Court to be sentenced on Friday afternoon, but he will instead be sentenced next Thursday as Judge Andrew Lees said he needed time to reflect before deciding on the sentence.
Andrew was “best friend” to his 14-year-old daughter, his wife Cairistine, and his sister Lyndsey. Cairistine said Andrew had never been in a fight in his life.
Cairistine said the CPS decision to accept a manslaughter plea, rather than to pursue a murder conviction, had left the family “with no sense of justice”.
Addressing Williams in court, Cairistine said: “You took him from us that moment you chose to walk back from the car and inflict the violence that ended his life. Why did you come back? Why didn’t you walk away?
“I will never understand why you came back that day. It was deathly dark and you left a small child in that car. When you went back to the car you didn’t leave. You didn’t check on the child. You put on a face covering and came back.
“What type of man choses to kill rather than simply walking away? The type of man who is not a man but a monster.
“You killed Andrew then cowardly ran away. You are a coward. You are a killer. You are a monster.”
A statement written by Andrew’s daughter was read by her aunt.
She wrote: “I was 13-years-old when my dad was violently killed and I had to spend my 14th birthday without him.
“My dad wasn’t just my dad, he was my best friend. He called me boss, because he said he would do anything for me.
“Our bond was unbreakable from the first moment he held me. We did everything together.”
She asked Williams: “Why did you have to do this to my dad? Why haven’t you shown any remorse. No apology. No explanation. Just silence.”
She told Williams her dad believed in fairness and that’s all he was standing up for that day.
“You get to keep your family whilst you destroyed mine in the most brutal way,” she said.
Andrew was described as a “brilliant dad” and “the man who held their family together”.
He was a massive Newcastle fan and had watched his club win the Carabao Cup final on TV that day.
He described it as one of the best days of his life but an hour later he was fatally attacked, the court heard.
When Williams was arrested at his home on Fir Tree Gardens in Croydon, his mum said “I know what happened. He told me. The man called him c**t.”
Claire Davies KC, defending, read part of a statement written by Williams.
He wrote: “I want to say I’m so so sorry to the man who has lost his life. Words cannot describe the way I feel.”
Williams wrote that he wanted to apologise to Andrew’s wife, family and friends as well as the wider public who had to witness his actions.
