A 16-year-old who murdered another teenager by stabbing him in a “revenge” attack in a car in Birmingham has been given a life sentence.
Judge William Davis QC ordered that Ceepreon Christian serve a minimum of 16 years before being considered for release.
Christian, of Vann Close, Small Heath, was convicted of the murder of Shyheim Jones, aged 17, by a jury at Birmingham Crown Court.
Previously there had been an order preventing the killer’s identification but it was lifted following an application by the Birmingham Mail.
Judge Davis said: “Yet again a young man carrying a knife has resulted in the death of another young man.
‘‘This attack was plainly motivated by some slight or your need for revenge unknown to me because the victim has died and you have never chosen to tell us what the real truth was.”
The judge said if Christian had been an adult, the starting point for a minimum sentence would have been 25 years.
Gareth Evans, QC, prosecuting, said Shyheim had been in a passenger in a Volkswagen Golf driven by his uncle, which got stuck in traffic in Coventry Road, Small Heath, on July 20 last year.
He said Christian was in a Mini which had earlier been overtaken by the Golf.
The court heard that Christian told the Mini driver that he had a “beef” with the victim, while Shyheim himself told his uncle to “drive” and slid down in his seat.
However, there was nowhere for the uncle to go and that the defendant got out of the Mini and walked towards the Golf. He took out a knife, opened the passenger door, leaned in and stabbed Shyheim in the left leg twice,” said Mr Evans.
Christian then walked calmly back to the Mini.
He said Shyheim’s uncle drove him to hospital but he died the next day after suffering massive blood loss from a severed major artery.
Christopher Hotten, defending, said Christian had not deliberately aimed at a vulnerable part of the body.
Read the story as reported by the press: Birmingham Mail.
