On Friday May 3, a 16-year-old British man was sentenced to life in prison.
Last June, he fatally stabbed a young man of the same age during a birthday party.
Two other teenagers were sentenced to nine and nine and a half years of detention in a juvenile facility.
This Friday, May 3, a British court sentenced a 16-year-old boy to life in prison for the stabbing murder of another teenager last June. With this heavy sanction, the judge denounced the “scourge” stabbing attacks among young people, particularly in Bristol and its surrounding areas, as reported by Agence France-Presse.
The victim, Mikey Royon, was an aspiring rapper, according to information from those close to him. Also aged 16, he was stabbed in the neck with a large knife during a birthday party.
His attacker, Shane Cunningham, was sentenced to life in prison for murder, with a 16-year safety period. Two other teenagers of the same age, Cartel Bushnell and Leo Knight, also involved in this case, received respectively nine and nine and a half years of detention in a juvenile establishment for manslaughter.
It is clear that you took up arms to fight and hurt people
Judge at Bristol Crown Court
Exceptionally, in a case involving minors, the judge at Bristol Crown Court authorized the publication of the names of the three convicted persons.
When passing sentences, the judge reminded that: “Mikey had a successful musical career ahead of him and his future seemed bright, even though he had faced many difficulties in his short life”. Returning to the murder, the judge also mentioned the fact that the three boys had come to the party with “big knives” hidden in their clothes. During this party which brought together around 70 people, “it is clear that you took up arms to fight and hurt people if violence were to occur,” he estimated.
If the victim also had a knife during this party, the events “evolved rapidly”. However, the jury that convicted the three boys rejected any self-defense.
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Mikey had been left bloodied and passed out in the driveway leading to the house where the party was being held. Arriving quickly at the scene of the tragedy, emergency services were unable to save the young teenager. The teenagers all denied the murder charges.
