Two teens were sentenced to life in prison for fatally stabbing a 16-year-old on the street as he was returning from a friend’s house in a case of mistaken identity.
According to testimony given at Wolverhampton Crown Court, Ronan Kanda was attacked in Wolverhampton on June 29, 2022, by Prabjeet Veadhesa and Sukhman Shergill, both 17 years old.
After the judge at the court lifted the reporting limitations, the pair can both be named.
Ronan, who was not the intended victim of the attack, but who knew Veadhesa and Shergill, was just yards away from his home which he shared with his parents and sister when the attack happened.
He was walking back from his friend’s house where he had gone to buy a Playstation controller.
In what judge Mr Justice Choudhury called a ‘tragic coincidence’, Veadhesa and Shergill had seen Ronan leaving the house where their intended victim lived and assumed he was the boy they were looking for.
Ronan was followed and stabbed twice with a ‘vicious’ Ninja knife that Veadhesa had bought online.
It left Ronan with with a 20cm deep wound in his back and hip area and a 17cm deep wound in his chest.
Both Shergill and Veadhesa fled the scene when they realised they had stabbed the wrong person and disposed of the weapons used and clothing they had been wearing.
Meanwhile Ronan was left to die in the street with his stab wounds.
Veadhesa had previously given the intended victim some money, but he had not paid it back.
Veadhesa and Shergill had gone to find the intended victim and ‘scare’ him into returning the cash.
While Shergill did not inflict any blows to Ronan, he was found to have acted in joint enterprise in the murder and the pair were found guilty by the jury following a five-week trial.
Ronan’s family and friends were in the courtroom wearing black ‘Justice for Ronan’ t-shirts to watch the sentencing.
Pooja Kanda, Ronan’s mum, gave a tearful tribute to her son. She said she has ‘no desire to live anymore’ since her son was taken from her.
She told the court: ‘I’m proud of the man my son was in the short life he lived.
‘My relationship with my son was so pure. He had so much love and respect. He was my strength, my world, he was the son every mother needs.’
Addressing her son’s killers, Mrs Kanda said: ‘This mother will never forgive you. If there is a God, they will show you the real justice my son deserves.’
Prosecutor David Mason KC said there was a ‘significant degree’ of planning and premeditation.
Defending Veadhesa, Adam Morgan said his client had no previous convictions and was of good character.
Timothy Hannam KC, defending Shergill, said his client should be treated more leniently than his accomplice.
Mr Choudhury jailed Veadhesa for a minimum of 18 years and Shergill for a minimum of 16 years.
He said: ‘The devastation caused by that cowardly attack, by stabbing him from behind, is hard to comprehend for his family.
‘Their loss is incalculable. Nothing I do or say today can relieve their pain.’
