In a region sadly blighted by regular acts of violence many people comfort themselves by believing they will avoid trouble if they do not go looking for it. To an extent, that is true but tragically in some situations complete innocents can be attacked for simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time. While in other scenarios people have ended up being hurt – or worse – inadvertently due to making their own bad luck through poor judgement and desperation. Not every criminal is a mastermind, in fact very few are, and occasionally they make critical errors which lead to unintended consequences. From mistaken identity to acting on bad information, below we look at the law-breakers whose reckless actions left a trail of destruction in their path. READ MORE: The ‘terrible coincidence’ that led cold-blooded killer to shoot innocent man POLL: Should Birmingham follow Wales and impose a 20mph speed limit on restricted roads? Innocent schoolboy killed after buying a PlayStation controller Teenagers Sukhman Shergill and Prabjeet Veadhesa killed their school friend Ronan Kanda thinking he was someone else that owed money. On the evening of June 29 last year the 16-year-old had been walking home on Mount Road, Lanesfield in Wolverhampton with his headphones on having gone to his pal’s to buy a PlayStation controller for £5. The killers, also 16 at the time, got out of a car and ran towards him armed with horrific swords. Veadhesa stabbed him twice before they fled and left him to die in the street. Both, who have since turned 17, admitted Ronan was not their intended target. They were found guilty of murder by joint enterprise and sentenced to life. Veadhesa, of Cairn Drive, Bentley, Walsall, was ordered to serve a minimum of 18 years in custody while Shergill, of Bewley Road, Willenhall, was told to serve a minimum term of 16 years. The ‘£30k cryptocurrency’ blackmail plot over Snapchat that quickly went south First-time criminals Nickyle Harris, Panashe Mahachi, Danreiko Henry and Daejon Byfeild thought they were about to score big by kidnapping a teenager they believed they could extort for £30,000 worth of cryptocurrency. But it turned out the victim had nowhere near that amount at his disposal. They abducted him as he tried to buy nitrous oxide outside SnowHill Snooker Centre in Digbeth. The gang bundled him into a car and drove him to Oldbury where they pointed a fake shotgun in his mouth, whacked him with a machete and beat him. They also posted videos on Snapchat as well as to his friends on social media demanding money. But Harris’s intel about the victim’s funds proved to be inaccurate and he was forced to apologise to his three accomplices who became angry with him. They ended up taking £377 cash, £800 worth of cryptocurrency as well as his phone and trainers before letting the teenager out at a train station. The plot was described as ‘gangland stuff’ which ended up being ‘ridiculous’. All four, having never been previously convicted of crime, admitted kidnap, robbery, having an imitation firearm with intent and threatening someone with a bladed article. Harris, aged 20, of Walton Road, Oldbury, was sentenced to ten years, Mahachi, 20, of Linden Avenue, Oldbury, received nine years and six months and Henry, 19, of Hamilton Drive, Oldbury, was sentenced for eight years and six months. Byfield, 20, of Springbank Road, Oldbury, also admitted dealing cannabis and was jailed for ten years. Woman mistaken for man in revenge stabbing University graduate Jacob Smith stabbed a middle-aged woman carrying shopping bags in Wolverhampton, wrongly believing she was a man who had previously attacked him. He initially jogged past her in Pope Road in June 2021 but then turned around and jabbed her in the arm with a knife. At first the woman did not realise she had been stabbed but then she saw blood coming from the ‘nasty wound’. She managed to get home but was left ‘puzzled’ by the random attack which had left her struggling to perform daily tasks afterwards. Smith, of Masefield Road, Wolverhampton had been drinking on the day and had a history of cannabis use. He had also been diagnosed with pyschosis but his condition was said to have improved with treatment. He initially claimed he had argued with the woman in the street about taking pictures but then later changed his story to say he mistakenly thought she was a man who had attacked him. Smith admitted wounding with intent and possession of a bladed article. He was sentenced to four years in custody with an extended two-year licence period. Brother killed in the line of fire Saghawat Ramzan accidently killed his own brother whilst defending a cannabis farm in Brierley Hill. A gang was attempting to raid the drugs factory in the home next door to his own on Pensnett Road in February 20. Saghawat, his sibling Waseem Ramzan, son Omar Ramzan and associate Mohammed Sageer launched a violent resistence and managed to capture one member of the group, 19-year-old kickboxer Khuzaimah Douglas. Waseem was grappling with him in the middle of the road when Saghawat shot a crossbow twice. The bolts struck and ultimately killed the intended target, Mr Douglas, but also hit 36-year-old Waseem who died later from his injuries. Saghawat was found guilty of two counts of murder and sentenced to life with a minimum term of 33 years. Omar Ramzan and Sageer, were both convicted of murder and manslaughter. They were sentenced to life with minimum terms of 22 years and 20 years respectively. ‘Cold blooded execution’ of a Good Samaritan Jervais Boyaram pulled up his black Smart car alongside Muhammed Sohail’s Vokswagen Passat and shot him dead from point blank range outside the victim’s home in Wright Road, Saltley. The recently married 26-year-old victim had been out for food with his wife and had then gone back out to help a motorist who had broken down. But Boyaram wrongly believed he had been part of a group of young men who he felt had ‘disrespected’ him at a petrol station forecourt earlier in the evening. He had gone on the hunt for them after arming himself with a pistol but tragically came across Sohail’s vehicle which was ‘almost identical’ to the silver Volkswagen Jetta he was actually looking for. The shooting was described as a ‘cold blooded execution’ of a completely innocent family man. Boyaram, aged 37, of Birbeck House, in Chelmsley Wood, was found guilty of murder, possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life and possession of ammunition with intent to endanger life. He was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 31 years.
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