Ronan Kanda: Teenagers sentenced for murdering Wolverhampton schoolboy in case of mistaken identity
ITV News Central correspondent Andy Bevan looks at the moments leading up to Ronan Kanda death.
Two teenagers have been sentenced to detention for life over a mistaken identity murder.
Ronan Kanda died after walking home from a friends house to buy a PlayStation controller at around 9pm on 29 June, 2022.
The 16-year-old was stabbed twice on Mount Road, in Lanesfield, Wolverhampton and pronounced dead by emergency services on the scene.
He was described as "kind-hearted and funny" and had spent his last day with a friend playing snooker.
The two teenagers who were convicted of killing Mr Kanda in a case of mistaken identity can today be named after a judge lifted reporting restrictions.
Prabjeet Veadhesa and Sukhman Shergill, both 17, were sentenced today (July 13) after a five-week trial.
Veadhesa was sentenced to detention for life with a minimum term of 18 years. He will also serve eight months concurrently for possession of a bladed article.
Shergill was sentenced to detention for life with a minimum term of 16 years. He will also serve eight months concurrently for possession of a bladed article.
What did the jury hear?
Jurors were told, on the day of the attack one of the teenagers had collected a Ninja sword set and a large machete from a local post-office, which he had bought online.
That boy had taken a dislike to one of Ronan’s friends and had fought on a previous occasion.
Later that day, the then 16-year-old conspired with three associates to visit Ronan’s friend as he was owed money.
All four travelled to Lanesfield in a red Corsa driven by 20-year-old Josiah Francis, with 18-year-old Joseph Whittaker in the passenger seat and the two 16-year-olds in the back seats.
Just before 8.30pm the car entered Mount Road as Ronan was almost home and the two 16-year-olds got out of the car, chasing after Mr Kanda.
The first reached Mr Kanda and stabbed him twice.
Although only one of the attackers inflicted the fatal blows, the other 16-year-old was found to have acted in the joint enterprise of Ronan’s murder.
The jury at Wolverhampton Crown Court took just over two hours to find the pair, now 17, guilty of murder.
Both Francis and Whittaker were acquitted of all charges.
A statement read out in court by Mr Kanda's family said they were left distraught by his death.
His mother wrote: "I have lost a lifetime of dreams, plans, hopes and wishes. Nothing on this earth will satisfy my maternal desire to hold my son in my arms.”
“Ronan was not only my son – he was my world, my friend and the soul of our family," said his father.
"He was the one that would make us laugh and realise that life is what you make it and enjoy our precious time on earth as a family,” the statement finished.
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