Moment e-bike rider murdered wrong man in ride-by shooting in Sheffield

Jake Brown carried out the shooting after mistaking Kevin Pokuta for a gang rival

Police have released footage of the fatal shooting of a father-of-two after a man was jailed for his murder.

Nineteen-year-old Kevin Pokuta was with his brother in his car when he was shot in the head by a man on an e-bike on Page Hall Road in Sheffield in the early hours of 12 December last year. He died the following day.

Police say Mr Pokuta was mistakenly targeted by one member of a gang who had earlier carried out a failed robbery.

On Monday Jake Brown, 23, was jailed for 36 years for murder.

Det Ch Insp Thomas Woodward, of South Yorkshire Police, said: “This horrific incident of mistaken identity has cost Kevin his life. His two young children will now grow up without their father.

"The actions of Jake Brown were extremely dangerous, and he clearly went out with the intention of causing harm that day.

"The devastation that gun violence brings rips through communities, with families and friends having to live with the consequences that these outright acts of evil leave behind."

Sheffield Crown Court heard Brown and four others had plotted to rob a cannabis factory earlier in the day.

The raid failed after those running the growing operation defended it.

But a car resembling Mr Pokuta's silver Skoda was reportedly driven at the robbers.

Passing sentence, Mr Justice Lavender told Brown: "You Jake Brown didn't know [Mr Pokuta] and you had nothing against him. It was a tragedy you fired up, no doubt, with the desire for revenge and mistook him for the man who drove at you earlier."He left behind a wife, two small children and two brothers, one who witnessed his death, and a mother and a father who died shortly after."

After trawling tens of thousands of hours of CCTV footage, police identified Brown and his accomplices Leon Waite, Lester Ramsey, Adam Mulligan and a 17-year-old boy who can’t be named because of his age.

In a statement, Mr Pokuta's family said: "He was a good soul who had all of his life in front of him. The family will miss him so much. He was a shy family man, but he was so funny and would make us all laugh so much."

They added: "We moved to the UK from Slovakia for a better life and safer life and this has not been the case. We could never have imagined that this horror would befall us.

"Kevin was a father of two very young children, his son was two when Kevin died and his daughter was just four months old.

"Kevin's son celebrated his third birthday, blowing out candles at his father's graveside. No child should ever have to do that. Kevin will never get to see his children grow up. He never got to see his young daughter take her first steps or say her first words.

"We celebrated Kevin's 20th birthday with candles and balloons at his graveside.

"Kevin will be loved and missed by us forever."

Waite, Ramsey and Mulligan were all jailed for conspiracy to rob.

Waite, 27, of Denholme Close, Sheffield, was jailed for four years and six months.

Ramsey, 25, of Skelton Close, Sheffield, was sentenced to four years and six months.

Mulligan, 33, of High Hazel Crescent, Rotherham, was jailed for three years and six months.

The 17-year-old boy was given a two-year youth rehabilitation order.

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