Wed, 03 Aug 2022
No5's Michael Duck QC and Cathlyn Orchard were successful in prosecuting three armed response gang members for the attempted murder of a thirteen year old in November 2021.
The case involved the prosecution of a 17 year old and two 20 year old youths for the attempted murder of a 13 year old boy. The prosecution argued that the defendants were part of a renowned gang from the Hockley area of Birmingham. The defendants encountered the boy, and his two colleagues, as they crossed what the defendants regarded as the border of “their” territory. Upon seeing the group the defendants along with two other youths jumped out of the stolen vehicle they were driving and chased the boy’s group down the street. One of their number was armed with a homemade “slam gun” which had been created to allow it to discharge shotgun cartridges with lethal effect. The 13 year old boy was shot through the back causing a catastrophic injury to his spinal cord which rendered him paraplegic. The defendants fled the scene and discarded the weapon in the garden of the home of one of their grandmothers.
The case involved complex legal arguments about the admissibility of gang evidence and bad character. The prosecution also relied upon a series of expert witnesses which included cell site, ballistics, imagery analysis, CCTV and DNA evidence.
Sentencing for all three will take place on the 7th October.
Read more here.
