Teenager who murdered 13-year-old Jahziah Coke in a row over missing cannabis is jailed for eight years for ‘nasty and violent attack’

A teenager who murdered a 13-year-old boy in a row over missing cannabis has been jailed for a minimum term of eight-and-a-half years following a ‘nasty and violent attack’.

The teenager, who cannot be identified, was convicted in April of murdering Jahziah Coke in Oldbury, West Midlands, in August last year.

Jahziah was found collapsed in the hallway of a house with three stab wounds – one of which penetrated six inches into his chest and almost severed a rib.

During the trial the court heard how the killer fled the scene of the murder by scaling garden fences. 

After emerging onto a road he then caught the first of two buses to the home of a friend where he played video games.

Passing sentence at Wolverhampton Crown Court, Mrs Justice Tipples told the defendant that she was sure he had ‘intended to kill’ Jahziah after pushing or moving a knife around his neck.

She told the boy: ‘When you killed Jahziah, he was only 13 and a child with everything in life ahead of him. This was a nasty and violent attack.’  

Prosecutor Kevin Hegarty KC previously told the jury how Jahziah was found alone in the property at the foot of the stairs last August after a 999 call was made.

The teenager, who cannot be identified, was convicted in April of murdering Jahziah Coke (pictured) in Oldbury, West Midlands, in August last year after a row over missing cannabis

Jahziah was found collapsed in the hallway of a house with three stab wounds – one of which penetrated six inches into his chest and almost severed a rib

During the trial the court heard how the killer fled the scene of the murder by scaling garden fences before going to the home of a friend where he played video games

‘At the time the call was made Jahziah, a 13-year-old, was bleeding heavily’, the prosecutor said.

‘He had three wounds to his torso. One on his chest and two on his stomach or tummy.

‘And those wounds had been caused by one or more sharp knives. The wound to his chest was approximately 15cm deep – six inches give or take.’

The prosecutor said ‘severe force’ was used to inflict that chest wound. ‘It almost completely cut through the sixth rib on his right side’, he added.

Mr Hegarty said that as well as the deep wound to Jahziah’s chest, the boy also suffered two stomach wounds in the attack.

He told jurors: ‘One (wound) is where the knife has gone in and the other is where the point of the knife has come out, if you can imagine such a thing.’

Forensic evidence, included diluted blood found on a kitchen chair, suggested an attempt had been made to ‘clean up’ something or someone after the killing.

Wolverhampton Crown Court heard that after fleeing the scene, the youth arrived at an address where a friend lived with her mother. The defendant ‘went into (the friend’s) room where they ‘hung out for three hours, playing on a PlayStation and chatting’, the prosecutor said.

The teenager has been jailed for a minimum term of eight-and-a-half years following the ‘nasty and violent attack’

The court heard news eventually filtered through to the pair via Snapchat that Jahziah was dead and his alleged killer went on to give the girl and her mother ‘an account of what he said happened that afternoon.’

Mr Hegarty said: ‘The boy claimed there had been a row and a struggle and that Jahziah had tried to stab him.’

The boy claimed to the mother and daughter that he had tried to ‘twist’ his assailant’s arm away from him before Jahziah ‘dropped to the floor’.

Mr Hegarty added: ‘He said he did not know that Jahziah had been stabbed, but nor did he explain how there were two penetrating stab wounds.

‘He claimed it was all an accident and that it shouldn’t have happened.’

The mother urged the teenager to go to police and a taxi was arranged to take him to a police station, the court heard. But Mr Hegarty said that while the youth duly went off in a cab, he ‘didn’t go into any police station’.

The defendant told jurors the 13-year-old victim had picked up a knife and threatened him before a row over ‘missing cannabis’ led to a non-deliberate chest injury.

The youth said he was left ‘hurt and traumatised’ after grabbing Jahziah’s hands – twisting the knife towards the floor – and then seeing blood.

In the sentencing hearing Mrs Justice Tipples told the youth: ‘What you did in that moment has also changed your life forever’

The defendant also said that he did not have the knife in his own hands and dialled 999 to summon paramedics, only leaving the property once he believed Jahziah was dead.

‘He started threatening me with it’, the boy said.

‘He tried to go for me. I was kind of close to him and he came closer.’

Asked by defence counsel Paul Lewis KC what he had done next, the defendant said: ‘Grabbed his hand – I got both of them.

‘I twisted the knife towards the floor.’

The boy said he didn’t know what happened next, adding: ‘I just remember seeing blood and then … yeah … blood on my hands.’

Mr Lewis then asked the teenager what he remembered of how the fatal chest injury had happened.

The youth answered: ‘I don’t know. It all happened too fast.’

Denying that he had deliberately stabbed Jahziah in the chest or that he had taken the knife off him, the boy added that he only realised the 13-year-old had been injured when he started seeing blood.

During the sentencing hearing on Friday, Mrs Justice Tipples accepted that there was no premeditation, but ruled that the defendant was not acting in self-defence and that his actions were ‘completely out of proportion’ to the possible threat he faced.

Prior to sentence, the defendant’s lawyer, Mr Lewis KC, told the court during mitigation: ‘The evidence at the trial was that (the defendant) has never had a knife, has never carried a knife and had never been seen with a knife.

‘I am sorry to say it but that was not the position vis-a-vis the deceased.

‘It was accepted from the very beginning by the Crown that the knife used in this case was not (the defendant’s).’

In a statement issued following the case, Emily Clewer, a senior crown prosecutor at the West Midlands Crown Prosecution Service, said: ‘This is a deeply tragic case where Jahziah Coke lost his life and entire future senselessly to knife violence.

‘Jahziah Coke’s family and loved ones have suffered unimaginable pain and loss, and our thoughts are with them as they deal with the aftermath of this tragedy.

‘The teenager responsible for this murder will now face the consequences of his actions in ways that will irrevocably change the trajectory of his life.

‘While today’s sentencing cannot undo the awful events that transpired that day, we hope it sends a strong message about the devastating impact of knife crime and how it can destroy lives, families and futures.

‘There are no excuses for carrying or using knives to harm and kill, and the CPS will continue to work tirelessly with the police and partners to tackle knife crime and bring offenders to justice.’

Mrs Justice Tipples added: ‘Jahziah was loved by his family and as a young boy aged 13, he had his life ahead of him.

‘You intervened in an argument over cannabis. Jahziah produced a knife, his knife, and was angry.

‘I’m sure that you took that knife off him, you disarmed him, and when you had done so, you attacked him with the knife.

‘You pushed or moved the knife around his neck and you stabbed him twice, once to his chest and once to his abdomen.

‘It was the deep stab wound to his chest which killed him.’

The judge went on to say she was sure the boy intended to kill his victim.

Mrs Justice Tipples told the youth: ‘What you did in that moment has also changed your life forever.

‘You will have to live with the consequences of what you did for the rest of your life.’