Two teenagers have been jailed for life for the murder of 16-year-old Ronan Kanda in Wolverhampton last year.

On 29 June 2022 Ronan had walked the short distance to a friend’s house to buy a PlayStation controller, before making his way back home.
 
Just yards from the home he shared with his parents and sister, Ronan was brutally stabbed from behind in an unbelievably callous and shocking case of mistaken identity.

Ronan had just finished his GCSEs and was looking forward to the summer holidays before starting sixth form and A-levels the following September. He was bright and popular, and had spent the day with a friend playing snooker. He left home around 8pm to collect the gaming controller and listening to music on his headphones as he walked.
 
Earlier that day another 16-year-old, Prabjeet Veadhesa, had collected a Ninja sword set and a large machete from a local post-office which he had bought online. He had taken a dislike to one of Ronan’s friends and the two had fought on a previous occasion.
 
Later the same day Veadhesa conspired with three associates to visit Ronan’s friend as he was owed money, but it was clear from the weapons they carried that their intention was violence. All four travelled to Lanesfield in a red Corsa driven by 20-year-old Josiah Francis and front-seat passenger 18-year-old Joseph Whittaker.
 
Just before 8.30pm the car entered Mount Road as Ronan was almost home. Veadhesa and another 16-year-old Sukhman Shergill got out of the car and chased after Ronan. Veadhesa reached him and struck twice. Ronan was taken completely by surprise and was utterly defenceless. He stumbled and called for help before collapsing in the road.
 
Sadly Ronan’s injuries were too catastrophic to survive and he died at the scene.

Officers immediately launched an investigation and painstaking CCTV analysis led to four arrests within days. Although only Veadhesa inflicted the blows which killed Ronan, Shergill was found to have acted in the joint enterprise of Ronan’s murder.
 
And after a five-week trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court, a jury took just over two hours to find the pair, now 17, guilty of murder. Both Francis and Whittaker were acquitted of all charges. Prabjeet Veadhesa, from Cairn Drive in Walsall, was sentenced to life with a minimum of 18 years, while his accomplice Sukhman Shergill, from Bewley Road in Willenhall, was jailed for life with a minimum of 16 years.
 
Ronan’s family were left distraught by his death. In a statement read to the court his mother, Pooja said: “On 29 June 2022 my innocent son was murdered.

"I remember kissing his cheek and saying you look very handsome and waving at him before his father dropped him off to the snooker club – I replay this in my mind every day. That was the last time I saw my son alive.
 
“With this I have lost a lifetime of dreams, plans, hopes and wishes. Nothing on this earth will satisfy my maternal desire to hold my son in my arms.”
 
Ronan’s father, Chander, added: “Ronan was not only my son – he was my world, my friend and the soul of our family. He was the one that would make us laugh and realise that life is what you make it and enjoy our precious time on earth as a family.”